The Years Of Your Life
by Caneater
Summary: Being a teenager is probably the most interesting time of your life. Roxas begs to differ as he arrives at his seventh school, returning to his hometown. Will Roxas repair past relationships or make new ones? More pairings and other info inside
1. New Kid

**IT IS FINALLY DONE! WOOHOO!**

**Okay, this fic has been in my head for a few months now. Even though it's a high school fic, I reckon it's one of the most exciting and embarrassing times in a teen's life, so why not?**

**Oh, pairings? Mainly AkuRoku, but also ClouTif, Zemyx, AkuDem (past), LeoTif, ClouAeri, RikuKai, SoraRiku, slight AkuRiku, RokuNami, RokuHayner, SeifHayner. Uhm, I think that's it.**

**I hope I've kept the characters IC, I did try as much as possible.**

**And note, during French, Italics are when they're speaking French.**

**Rated M for swearing and ONE hectic scene. Also a bit of violence and drunkeness. Anyway, Hope you enjoy!**

Roxas arrived at the new school gates that morning and looked up at the tall building overhead. It was intimidating, but with Roxas' height, anything taller than 5 foot 7 was intimidating. Oh, how he hated it. This was his seventh school in Roxas' school career, and first days never counted as much as the last one any more. Roxas wasn't overly excited, or nervous. He just hoped that this school would be his last.

Roxas walked up to the large steps where students were talking and laughing amongst each other. It was a normal day at the school as it was half way through the first term. Roxas would've come at the beginning of the year, but as usual, unforeseen circumstances came up, concerning his father's job: They moved to almost every city in the continent because of it. His mother insisted on moving the whole family with him. He hoped that now that his father had a proper contract in Radiant Garden, the family would finally settle in his home town. He also hoped that his childhood friends had not relocated to different cities.

After asking a girl for directions, Roxas set off on a short expedition through the corridors. He found the nerds arguing over a code stuck to a locker; the gangsters giving him the elevator looks and doing battles in the middle of small huddled circles; and the jocks posing and looking cool.

Roxas knew that water polo was incredibly popular in this school, more so than football ever was in any of the other schools that the blond attended. One particular individual, however, caught Roxas' eye. The reason being his hair was silver. It was incredibly rare to find it in a high school if the individual was not over sixty. Roxas only knew three that existed, and they were a trio of brothers that caused havoc in Midgar High. This boy who leaned against the lockers, talking quietly with the water polo jocks, was the kind of guy that was incredibly beautiful, hard to get and one that will break your heart. Roxas knew too many of them, and could spot them anywhere. He hated them. Roxas could not deny, however, that the silverette was absolutely gorgeous...and said silverette had clear knowledge of it.

Yes, Roxas played for both fields. Not for a long time, though. It was only before he moved back to Radiant Garden when he kissed his first boy. The boy happened to be his close friend, Hayner. Roxas' lips twinged with regret as he remembered the pained parting from Hayner. He continued to forge on through the corridor, his face betraying no other trace of emotion.

Eventually, he found himself outside his home classroom. He stepped inside, finding a few students already milling inside: filing nails, laughing, gossiping, flirting..._ah, the joys of high school_, Roxas thought, inwardly rolling his eyes. He stopped dead in front of his class teacher. She was slim and cute, her blond hair caught in a bun, a few stray strands framing her heart-shaped face. She wore red-rimmed spectacles and the clear blue eyes behind them were brimming with curiosity. Judging from the glass jars and posters lining the walls in the classroom, Roxas would guess that this teacher taught Biology. The teacher caught his eye and grinned widely.

"You're the new kid, huh?" she asked brightly. Roxas sighed inwardly. He hadn't had enough coffee this morning to deal with this yet. He nodded nonetheless. "Welcome to Radiant High!" Her smile grew wider if it could. "You're a short one, huh?" Roxas seethed slightly. "Don't worry squirt, I'm sure that your growth spurt will kick in soon!" She beamed and patted his head. Roxas fisted his right hand, breathing deeply to calm himself. It seemed the world wanted to pick on his shortness today. But this was only the beginning. "Your subjects?" the teacher asked, peering at the clipboard in her hands.

"AdMaths, English, French, Drama, History and Biology," Roxas recited without pause.

"Ooo, goody!" the teacher exclaimed joyfully. "Another student!" After a pause she said, "I don't have anyone that has your exact subject choice, as you have such a strange combination, but -"

"No worries, Miss," said a voice from the side of the classroom. "I'll show him around." Roxas turned. The voice came from a silhouette that was leaning against the window sill. Roxas squinted slightly as the figure came forward out of the shadow. Great. This guy was as tall as the friggin' door! His smile was almost vampyric and his bright emerald eyes glittered dangerously. His hair was a ridiculous shade of red, and under his startling eyes were black tear-drop tattoos. He was thin and willowy, but owned his height proudly. His hips were lined by his skinny black jeans, the waistband of his jocks peeping out, bangles decorating his thin wrists.

Roxas swallowed nervously. The guy's body was incredibly hot, and Roxas had to keep his breathing in check so that it wouldn't betray his current thought process. However, this was the only part of the guy that Roxas liked. "My name is Axel," the red head said with a dangerous grin. He leaned close to Roxas, the blond breathing in Axel's smell. "Got it memorised?"

Roxas glared at the thin red head. "It escaped my mind since you uttered it," he growled, not appreciating the interference in his personal space. Axel straightened, hands on his delicious hips.

"Well, that can only mean that some quality time should be spent together." His smile was bordering on evil.

"I can see the appeal," Roxas said, rolling his eyes.

"So, shortness, what are your subjects?" Axel asked, ignoring the blond's last comment. Roxas repeated them with deliberate slowness, as if talking to the local village idiot. Axel, unfazed, ran his bony fingers through his hair, his eyes calculating. Roxas couldn't help but eye the small patch of skin where Axel's shirt had ridden up. After a deep breath, Axel said, "I think we have French first."

"You think?" Roxas said, raising an eyebrow.

"I lost my timetable," said Axel smoothly, looking for his bag. "I'll compile them when we have some free time. But right now," he smiled at Roxas, "we have to leave for our first class." He hitched his bag onto his shoulder, grabbed Roxas' wrist and headed out the door.

Caught by surprise, Roxas stammered, "Shouldn't we get my textbooks first?"

Axel looked back at the blond and said, "Nah. You can use mine so long."

After trawling through a labyrinth of corridors, Axel greeted a few faces here and there – Roxas recognising no one, indeed they were at a pace where everything was a blur – the pair finally arrived at the French classroom. There weren't many students in the classroom, but Roxas looked at them cautiously. "Are you sure we're in the right classroom? Everyone looks a bit older than me," He said cautiously. Not to mention you, Roxas added mentally. Axel definitely didn't look like he was a second year at the school, and neither was he interested. He seated the both of them and before Roxas could say anything else, the teacher strode in.

"_Good morning, students,_" the teacher said in lilting French. "_Could you open up you honours set work book today. We will start reading and revising chapters soon_." The class busily dove into their bags and withdrew a slim book. All but one. Roxas noticed the silverette from earlier sitting with a clear desk, his eyes betraying panic. Roxas looked at his own desk, where Axel had put his book in front of them to share.

"Honours?" Roxas whispered to Axel in English. "I'm in second year, not third. I think you led us to the wrong place."

"Nonsense," Axel replied back. "You'll do fine here, just -"

"_Is there something wrong, Axel?_" the teacher interjected the conversation smoothly. "_Who is this you have brought to my class. I was not notified of his coming._"

Axel cleared his throat and answered fluently, "_This is Roxas, a new student. He has taken French as one of his subjects._"

Roxas glared at Axel for speaking on his behalf.

"_Is that so?_" The teacher smiled mockingly at Roxas. "_You look a bit young to be in this class. Your shortness betrays your age._"

The class rippled into laughter. "_Please, let me explain -_" Roxas tried to say, but someone was leaning against his desk, uncomfortably close.

"New kid, huh?" the stranger said. He was wearing a beanie and a sleeveless white coat. His face was adorned with a smirk and his eyes showed malice.

"_Seifer, care to express your interest in the new student?_"

"_Certainly,_" Seifer replied, not looking away from Roxas. "_I was wondering if the boy should not be sent to primary school, where children his own height would be more acquaintanced with him._"

The class laughed louder. Roxas glared daggers at Seifer, who coiled slightly under their intensity. Then he uttered something that sent the whole room into stunned silence.

The teacher broke it by saying, "_Roxas. Please make your way to the principals office_." Roxas closed his eyes, chiding himself on letting his tongue lead his anger. He stood up and sighed resignedly. Seifer looked like he wanted to murder the blond. He returned to his seat, his eyes never leaving Roxas. The teacher, however, continued to dictate his class as if the incident never occurred.

"_Riku, would you be so kind as to read to the class?_" Roxas turned for the door, identifying the silverette once more. So his name was Riku, Roxas mused, and he seemed to be in a spot of trouble. Roxas grabbed the book from the desk, and made his way to the door.

"_Teacher -_" Riku started.

Roxas walked up to Riku's desk.

"_Yes?_"

The blond casually slid the set work book on Riku's desk before walking out of the classroom.

"_Could I share my book with Axel? It seems he has none._"

Roxas followed the instructions a janitor gave him, and a few minutes later, he found himself outside of the principal's office. Sighing slightly and readying himself with an explanation, he knocked on the door. "Come in!" said the jovial reply. Roxas opened the door to find the most strangest principals he had ever seen. It seemed the man had a fascination with Disney, posters and miscellaneous items littering his office spoke of his obsession. On his head of neat brown hair, perched an Alice-band with Mickey Mouse ears. Roxas looked at the man strangely, hovering at the door wondering if he came to the right place.

"Come in, come in!" the man said with a smile. "I did say so, didn't I?"

Roxas hastily sped into the office, looking uncomfortable. "Sit down, why don'cha?" the principal said with a warm smile. "Have a biscuit or sumthin'. I'm afraid we won't have much time for tea, but I'm sure it'll be enough to get to know each other." He beamed at a shocked Roxas, who dropped into a comfortable chair opposite the desk. "So, you're the new kid?"

Roxas nodded, reaching into a Donald Duck jar close to the edge. "Welcome to Radiant High!" the principal said warmly, helping himself to a biscuit. "I'm Mr. Mouse, pleased to meet ya."

"Wait a minute," Roxas said, frowning. "Isn't this about the thing I said in French?"

"Oh no, no," said Mr. Mouse with a chuckle. "No, that's not why. I'm only tryin' to make you feel comfortable. However, I had to find ya from the honours class. Did'ya stumble into the wrong place?"

"No, sir. I was led by Axel. I'm not sure he knows the timetable well," Roxas replied politely.

"Ah, helpful Axel," Mr Mouse smiled and leaned back in his chair. "He will do very well indeed."

"Um, sir, isn't Axel too old for second year?"

"Depends what the normal age is," Mr Mouse replied, his eyes twinkling. "Axel is not your normal student, Roxas. Always remember that." Roxas added mentally, he's not normal, full stop. "By the way, short as the class might be, I wanna keep you in honours French so long. See how ya fit in. I'll arrange for the slight shift promptly."

Roxas, stunned, said nothing.

They preceded in polite conversation until the bell rang for the next class. "Oh!" Mr Mouse exclaimed. "We musta lost track of time! On to your next class then!"

Before Roxas could say that he didn't know what his next class was, he was shooed out of Mr Mouse's office and the door shut behind him in finality.

Outside it, Roxas found a familiar brunette bounding towards him.

"Roxas!" it exclaimed loudly. Before the blond could even reply, never mind recognise the voice, his vision was filled with chocolate brown hair and his lungs airless. "Oh I'm SO glad you're here!" the glomper exclaimed noisily. Other people in the corridor started to stare and Roxas was getting uncomfortable. He pried himself from his attacker and noticed the crown necklace.

"Sora?" Roxas said in disbelief.

His cousin looked at him, their eyes exactly the same, Roxas' only being a few shades lighter. They basically grew up together, with twins Namine and Kairi. "I can't believe you're back!" Sora continued in embarrassing loudness. "Why didn't you TELL me? How long have you been here?"

"It's my first -"

"I've been here since beginning of the year and it's been AWESOME! I'm so excited we're back together now, aren't you?" Sora was bouncing off the walls with energy, always has been. Roxas looked at Sora with stunned silence.

Eventually he said, "I thought you lived here, Sor."

"Oh yeah. Mom had to go to Destiny Island to write a book or something during first year and I had to go with her and stuff. Hey! What class do you have next?"

Roxas' eyes widened. "I actually have no idea," he said.

"Oh, well, I can take you to Maths-light I guess. It's really chilled, you'll LOVE the teacher."

"Wait wait!" Roxas cried out before being dragged by his hyper cousin. "I do AdMaths." Sora looked at Roxas in awe. "I'm just waiting for Axel. He apparently is showing me around today."

"Axel?" Sora pulled a face. "Who's that?"

"Boo." The voice behind Roxas scared the living daylights out of Sora, who promptly screamed like a traumatized school girl. Roxas looked behind him, raising an eyebrow.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked in a pained voice. Axel merely grinned at him. Roxas rolled his eyes and said, "Sora, this is Axel."

"Oh, THAT'S Axel! Psh, I know him. He's been here for AGES -"

"Okay squirt!" Axel cut in loudly, leaning forward and placing his hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Time to go! Say goodbye to Roxas now!"

"Bye!" Sora said obediently, and bounded down the corridors.

Axel chuckled. "Little squirt," he muttered.

"That 'little squirt' is my cousin," Roxas said irritably.

"Make sense," said Axel, now leaning back, examining his fingernails. "He possesses your air of shortness, just short of cute, poor thing."

Roxas raised his eyebrow again.

"By the way," Axel said, attention still on his fingernails. "You two took ages in there. What did you do?"

"We just talked," Roxas responded shortly.

"Yeah, Mike can be a real talker," Axel smiled, his eyes on the principal's closed door.

"Mike?"

"His first name." Axel then started. "We don't have any time to dawdle, Roxie!" he exclaimed. "To our next class!"

"If you can lead us to the right one this time," Roxas muttered. Axel took no notice, grabbed Roxas' wrist and frogmarched down the corridors once more. To his surprise, the teacher was also a silverette. His features were akin to Riku's, and Roxas squinted as he tried to work out what relation the teacher had to Riku. His concentration was broken when he saw the rest of the class. He smiled with satisfaction. It was small, and the students looked more his age. Perfect.

He settled in a desk next to Axel – having no choice in the matter otherwise – and leaned over to the red head. "Is he related to Riku?" Roxas looked directly at the teacher.

"Oh, yeah. Uncle. Has three kids in Midgar."

Roxas' eyes widened in comprehension. That all made a lot of sense.

The teacher was a stern man who was referred only as Sephiroth, paid scant attention to Roxas' presence, and preceded to write on the blackboard the rules for differentiation. Roxas smiled contently and wrote notes in his book quietly. Sephiroth quickly and thoroughly went through the explanation, thereafter setting the class with an exercise.

Too soon, a breath was at his neck. Irritated at being disturbed, Roxas looked up. Axel was hovering over Roxas' work, peering at it in interest. "What do you want?" Roxas growled.

"Sheesh," Axel said, taken aback. "Kitty's a bit upset."

"I don't like being disturbed," Roxas said, his tone unchanging.

Axel smiled mischievously and said simperingly, " Don't you wanna help me with this exercise quick? I promise it won't delay you for long."

Roxas' eyes narrowed and he clenched his teeth in anger. He then explained to Axel what was required of the exercise and how to go about doing this first question. Axel, however, was not paying the slightest bit of attention. Then the shadow of Sephiroth loomed over their table. "Doing Axel's work then, are we?" he asked, his voice emotionless.

Roxas looked up, chiding himself again for quickly lowering his standards in Sephiroth's eye. "I was only trying to explain -"

"Axel needs no explanation of any kind. I'm sure he knows the laws of differentiation backwards. I suggest the pair of you return to your own work before I start handing out detention."

Roxas jumped quickly to his own work, while Axel grabbed his pen. Roxas tore a piece of paper from his notebook and scribbled furiously, Are you _trying _to get me into trouble in every class?

Axel's reply was swift. I'm not straining myself, it's pretty easy anyway.

Roxas crumbled the note into a tight ball and threw it at Axel's head. The red head chuckled, causing Sephiroth to look in their direction. Roxas hurriedly bent over his work. Later in the lesson, Roxas found that Axel solved the most difficult of questions with ease, his mind sharp and his pen moving swiftly. Roxas mused that there was more to this guy than he thought.

"Oh, FINALLY!" Axel exclaimed, standing up and stretching his long body. Roxas noted with interest, again, the little patch of skin that peeped from under his shirt as it rode up Axel's form. "SO hungry," Axel continued passionately. The red-head speedily packed his bag, hauled it onto one shoulder and turned for the door. He looked at Roxas over his shoulder, who hadn't moved a muscle since Axel last spoke. "You comin' or what?"

Roxas looked away from Axel's emerald gaze, feeling uncertain. Sure, Axel had certain charming qualities, a vibrant, unique personality and an incredibly hot body, but Roxas wasn't sure he could fit into Axel's world at all.

Very round peg. Very square hole. No question.

"I dunno," Roxas said, slowly. "I think I'm gonna stay and do some work. I'm really not that hungry."

Axel turned around and faced Roxas fully. He leaned in so that his face was right up by the blond, looking at the new kid incredulously. "If I'd known you better, I'd say you could eat a Heffelump. Whole. I know that look, and I know it anywhere." Suddenly, Axel grabbed Roxas' wrist and led him from the classroom, weaving through the trafficked corridors. No matter how hard Roxas' tried, he couldn't get out of the other boy's grip, nor could he persuade Axel, not with the amount of hungry, loud students in the corridors.

When they entered the dining hall, Roxas noted the cliques seated at their separate tables. Axel dragged Roxas away from the stereotypes and sat him down to a motley crew of a table. "I'm gonna go get chow," Axel said to the petrified blonde boy. "And while you're waiting, you can introduce yourself to all my wonderful friends!" He grinned and left Roxas.

The blonde boy swallowed nervously. He was _not _good at introductions, and always gave the wrong first impressions. He hoped that this time would be different. With a deep breath, he faced the table...and greeted with a pleasant surprise.

Opposite the table, sat Sora, eating messily (a long time tradition that the cousin never failed to lose). He was too busy talking to their childhood friends, Namine and Kairi, to notice Roxas' presence. Roxas immediately smiled, all his anxiety dissipating. The four of them had known each other since they were three. They all went to school together until Roxas' father got his new job and had to move. And now they were finally reunited once more.

Kairi was an outgoing, slightly boisterous girl, an attacker in hockey, and completely fearless. Namine was quiet, reserved and shy, but incredibly talented. Her art is well known in the school and at local art galleries too. As twins have their nature, they are similar to a certain degree: They were both be-freckled (Kairi more so), with slightly upturned noses and pale skin. While Namine chose to leave her hair to her natural colour – pale blond, touching her shoulder-blades – Kairi cut hers shoulder length and dyed it a deep wine red. What Kairi wasn't, was Roxas' first kiss. That title belonged to Namine (taken eighteen months prior). She spotted Roxas, and her cold blue eyes lit up instantly.

"Oh, hi," she said in quiet surprise. Namine smiled and waved at Roxas. Roxas returned both.

Kairi looked distractedly from Sora's story at her twin sister. "Yeah, just ruin the story, won't you?"

"No, no. It's just that Roxas has joined us."

Kairi looked at Roxas with wide deep blue eyes, wooped and dove right over the table and crash-tackled her childhood friend to the floor. Students gathered round, expecting a fight. When Roxas got Kairi off him and instead exchanged lung-squeezing hugs, the small crowd dispersed muttering in disappointment. With a sigh, Roxas seated himself back down.

"Ohmyword, Roxas!" Kairi squealed, clasping her hands together, taking her place between Sora and Namine. "When did you get here?"

"Uh," was all that Roxas could manage before a large tray crashed before him, heavily laden with food. Axel plomped himself next to the blond and smiled with his vampyric canines. "_Bon Appitet_," he said in a low voice. Roxas heart started running a marathon or something, because whatever Axel just did...was darn sexy.

Fighting his blush, he paid attention to his lunch. The food didn't look bad at all, and this is saying something; some of the food Roxas had seen in his past school have been darn right scary. The blond's stomach grumbled in protest, desperate to get some food into his system. Slightly embarrassed, Roxas picked up his fork and began to eat.

In between mouthfuls of food, Axel introduced the members of the group that Roxas didn't know.

Tifa was a tall, beautiful and extremely dangerous-looking girl, with long, smooth, dark brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail. She wore a black tank top, a pair of grey shorts and suspenders. She seemed friendly enough, Roxas decided, as she beamed at him with chocolate brown eyes and a smile.

The boy next to her seemed completely emotionless. He had blond spikes that had even more length than Roxas', cold blue eyes, a thin mouth and a pale, slightly freckled skin. He was handsome enough, but he seemed incredibly austere. Roxas tried not to laugh when Axel introduced him as Cloud. Cloud gave Roxas an imperceptible nod and continued eating his own food.

Demyx was on a whole other planet. He wasn't paying attention to anything around him, largely because of the giant headphones covering his ears, and Roxas could hear a faint melody coming from them. His hair was cut in a messy mohawk, with the sides of his head shaved. His eyes were big and round, full of surprise and energy. Roxas noted the large amount of jewellery Demyx wore around his wrists and neck.

As Axel finished, a flash of silver caught Roxas' eye and he turned. It was that water polo player from French, Riku. The jock was standing at the foot of the table, holding his tray.

"Riku!" Axel exclaimed. "Come join us!"

Riku gave a smile akin to a smirk and said, "Na, I just came to say thanks to your friend for saving my ass in French." He nodded at Roxas, who swallowed his food slowly, looking slightly on guard.

This was the only time when Roxas could get a good look at Riku. Well built arms, no doubt a six pack underneath his tight shirt (he _does _play water polo after all), clear turquoise blue eyes and broad, tanned shoulders. Wow. Who _didn't _want this guy, Roxas thought. "What's your name, by the way?"

Roxas replied, "Roxas."

Riku smiled, without the hint of sneering. Roxas didn't smile back, but held out his hand to be shaken. Riku then straightened and then said, "So who's all coming to my party this Saturday?"

Everyone's ears pricked with interest. Riku's laugh was low and inviting. "My place at 7:30. See you there." He winked at the table and then disappeared.

"Nice," Axel said with a sly smile. "I was wondering when the old man was going to throw one. It's about time!"

"Yeah, any time Riku has something at his place, it's amazing," Tifa said with a small smile. "I wonder if he'll have us play there." She stood up to go to Riku's table, where a bunch of jocks were sitting and laughing loudly.

"Why would he invite us though?" Roxas asked, suspicious laced in his voice.

"Ah, Roxy. This guy ain't like all the others. He happens to be my best friend...and possibly a crush on our Kairi here."

Kairi, who was having a conversation with Sora about potatoes, looked up, horror in her eyes.

"No, friggin' way, Axe!" she said, her voice half in awe. "There's no way Riku will go with me...I play hockey!"

Axel laughed. "Oh, I don't know Kairi, I think something might happen here."

Roxas noticed Sora looked a little downtrodden all of a sudden, and finished his lunch in a forlorn fashion.

"Hey, Roxas!" the brunette suddenly exclaimed, a thought jumping to him. "You remember you told me you got into the swimming team in Midgar?"

Roxas frowned, unsure of the nature of the question but nodded nonetheless.

"There's a swimming team in Midgar?" Axel muttered.

"Mmhm!" Sora said, excitement sparkling in his eyes. "Anyway, here we got quite a hardcore team. Maybe your should try out, ya know. See what you made of here."

Roxas looked thoughtful. It was a while since he last swam competitively, but since he returned to Radiant Garden, he was itching to get back into shape. This would be his chance.

"It's a good idea," Axel said, smiling slowly.

"Yeah, we always need good swimmers," Cloud interjected quietly.

"Cloud's our swimming captain this year," Tifa said with a trace of pride. Cloud looked slightly embarrassed. Roxas should've known. The broad shoulders, tanned skin, slightly built body. Roxas betted against himself that the swimming captain would have large feet, but then certain images popped in his mind that he certainly did not want to deal with at the moment.

"Yeah, I'll give it a shot," Roxas said with a determined smile.

That afternoon, straight after school, Axel, Roxas and Cloud were at the swimming pool. Roxas was equipped with his cousin's board shorts – it would hamper his speed somewhat, but it was better than swimming in his birthday suit! Axel and Cloud were both armed with a stopwatch when Cloud instructed Roxas to swim two lengths freestyle.

Roxas' hand slapped against the tile and surfaced out of the water, shaking his hair out his face. Axel and Cloud exchanged a look and compared their times. "Not bad," Cloud eventually said. "You do qualify, to say the least, but I think you can do better than that. Again."

Roxas obediently swam back and forth, until Cloud with satisfied with his time. Roxas was thankful that his stamina remained from the hard training he did at Midgar, but it was not what it used to be. Cloud helped Roxas out of the pool and handed him a towel.

"Congrats Roxie," Axel said with a triumphant smirk. "Welcome to the swimming team." Roxas' eye twitched at the new nickname, but didn't say anything.

"Practice is three times a week. Don't miss a single one of them," Cloud added in clipped tones.

"Ouch," Roxas replied, but he was smiling.

"Yeah, it does get hectic," Axel replied, nodding. "Oh, heads up, here comes the water polo team."

Indeed a line of boys walked out of the changing rooms in nothing but speedos. Although Roxas knew quite a few people would be freaked at the sight (including some girls he knew), Roxas accepted it in his lifestyle as it was a necessity in swimming. He couldn't help but cautiously eye Riku's well-toned body and also, suprisingly, Seifers. Last came Roxas' history teacher: a tall, broad shouldered, austere man with shoulder length brown hair and a commanding stride. He was, however, fully clothed.

"Get in and start warming up," Leonhart instructed his water polo team in a tone akin to Cloud's. Said Cloud was looking at Leonhart venomously. Roxas immediately wondered what the reason was for the tension. Leonhart was approaching the trio at the edge of the pool. He glanced at the stopwatches in Cloud's hand. "What's his time?" he asked curtly. Cloud told him in a tight voice. Leonhart looked at Roxas stoically. "Warm up," was all he said, and then strode off to the other side of the pool.

Roxas and Axel exchanged surprised looks, the latter giving a low whistle, all the while Cloud standing behind them seething silently.

**So, what did you think? **

**There was a reason why some things are the way they are. Just be paitient, dears.**

**PLEASE review :). Will make me post more chapters, promise!**

**Signing off:**

**Caneater.**


	2. Loyalty

**Chapter 2 is now up! It's a short one, but quite necessary :)**

**Thanks for the reviews btw (and apologies for the vast amount of short jokes in the chapter before. There's won't be any more :D)**

**Some action happens here, and you see how even Riku has weaknesses!**

**Rated M for swearing and ONE hectic scene. Also a bit of violence and drunkeness. Anyway, Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"So I'm in both teams," Roxas said to Axel the next day.

Axel gave a low whistle. "You actually don't have a choice on that one."

"What?" Roxas said, surprised.

"You _have_ to be in the water polo team. Otherwise you can't swim for either of them."

"What?" Roxas repeated, his eyes widening.

Axel shushed him, and pointed at the English teacher who looked at them sternly from her desk. "If Leonhart declares you unfit, you can't swim either."

"What the hell?" Roxas frowned. "This guy is full of shit."

Axel shrugged.

"Hey, what's the deal with Cloud and Leonhart?" Roxas asked.

Axel gave a small smile. "It's a kinda a long story, but to crop it short, Cloud and Tifa have always liked each other. From the beginning. They just won't admit it." Roxas raised his eyebrows. "Anyway," Axel continued, "Leonhart has started taking particular interest in Tifa these days, and been talking to her extensively after lessons."

Roxas' eyes widened. "But Leonhart is a _teacher_. Is that even allowed to do that?"

"I don't know. But all I know is that Cloud doesn't like it at all, and Tifa doesn't know a thing about it."

Roxas sat chewing his lip for a while and then he said, "What if I pull out?"

"No one's ever done that before I don't think," Axel said with a thoughtful look on his face. Roxas looked at Axel incredulously. The red-head continued. "Once you reach the water polo team, you've officially achieved god-status at this school."

"That's stupid," Roxas scoffed.

Axel shrugged. "That's what everyone else wants. 'Cept you."

"I do what I want these days. I give a shit about popularity any more," Roxas grumbled and he bent over his work.

"So what you gonna do?" Axel asked, leaning towards Roxas. The blond was about to reply when Sora barged into the conversation.

"Hey Rox," he said from the desk diagonally from the pair. "I'm gonna play a few shots on the Astro this afternoon. Wanna join me?"

"Water polo practice this afternoon," Axel hissed warningly by Roxas' ear.

The blond waved him off. "I told you, I don't give a rat's ass," he whispered back. Then he said to Sora, "Sure thing, I'll join you."

"Hey Rox!" Axel called over his shoulder after Drama class. "I gotta go to a meeting quick. See you at lunch in a few?"

"Yeah, sure," Roxas said, raising his hand in farewell.

He was one of the last people to leave the classroom, and thus easier to corner. His face paled when he saw Seifer with two huge water polo jocks at this shoulders. "So our new player is a fairy?" Seifer said with a cocky smile. "Now, we can't have that." With that, his cronies closed the door, leaving him and Roxas alone...

* * *

Roxas dropped into his bench at lunch, sporting a tissue to his still-bloodied nose, a soon-to-be black eye and bruised knuckles.

"Ohmyword!" Kairi squealed from her seat, Sora following suit in almost exact pitch.

"What happened?" Tifa asked, coming round to sit next to Roxas. Axel slid in on the other side of Roxas, though not touching him.

"Guys, don't worry about it," Roxas said in a strained voice.

Cloud shook his head from the other side of the table. "It's not okay, Roxas. This doesn't happen often, and you've got some serious bruises."

Roxas sighed irritably. "Listen, if I tell you guys then he's just gonna come back and get me. It's better if we just leave it."

"I found him," Axel said in a very dangerous voice. Shocked, Roxas looked at Axel. His eyes showed such anger, it was hard just to look at him for a few seconds. His whole body was taut and his aura radiated with fury. He looked across the dining hall at Seifer, who sported a sizable bruise on his cheekbone.

"At least you got a good punch in," Kairi commented from the other side of the table. Roxas looked at her and gave a strained but appreciative smile.

When he looked again, Tifa and Axel disappeared from his side and were marching to the other side of the dining hall. "No, no, no," Roxas said, standing up. "They can't get involved in this. This is my issue!"

Namine went from her side of the table over to Roxas and laid a caring hand on his arm. "Nothing will stop those two. If anything, they'll stop Seifer from beating you up again."

Roxas looked at his childhood friend with concern reflecting in his eyes. Namine smiled gently and sat him down, examining his wounds and cleaning them up with a clean napkin.

There was a loud crash, Kairi and Sora cried aloud in excitement. Roxas couldn't react as Namine held his head firmly in his hands.

"What happened?" Roxas said urgently.

The dining room erupted into cacophony. Kairi leaned forward and muttered swiftly to Roxas, "A teacher just walked in and broke the fight."

"Boy, she looks angry," Sora added, taking a bite of his burger, his blue eyes not leaving the scene.

"Okay, Seifer's up, he looks pretty beat up."

"Wow, Axel and Tifa look like they could massacre the whole dining hall," Sora said, still chewing his burger.

"Geez, Tifa!" Cloud exclaimed, and stood up swiftly.

"I'm fine," Tifa growled, holding her hand in a napkin.

Namine had now finished with Roxas, kissed his cheek gently, and stood up to throw away the bloodied napkins. Roxas took a moment to touch his cheek where he felt the imprint of Namine's lips. He smiled inwardly.

"You're not fine." Cloud looked upset.

"You okay?" Axel asked, sliding in next to Roxas, putting a comforting arm around the blond's shoulders.

"Yeah," Roxas said, looking up at Axel. "You didn't need to do that. It was my fight."

"I had a score to settle with Seifer anyway," Axel said, shrugging. He withdrew his arm and went on eating his lunch like nothing happened.

"That was so awesome!" Kairi said enthusiastically, punching the air with gusto. Sora grinned and nodded his head.

"You really taught Seifer a lesson."

"That's if he'll learn it. If not, then it's my turn!" Kairi was rolling up her sleeve and flexing her biceps menacingly.

Axel nudged Roxas and pointed discreetly at Cloud and Tifa. "Check it out."

The pair were huddled up on the corner of the bench, Cloud slowly bandaging Tifa's hand, while the fighter looked annoyed but appreciative. A silent, intimate moment passed between the two of them. Roxas felt embarrassed just watching them.

"I'm gonna get you those gloves now," Cloud was saying. Tifa looked at him. "You get into too many fights. I can't stop you from getting into them, but seriously, this is the second time this month that you've broken your knuckles."

"Don't remind me," Tifa said darkly.

Cloud almost smiled at that.

* * *

Riku was watching Sora for the past couple of days, somehow intrigued by the boy. Eventually, after careful watching, Riku decided that he wanted to strike up a conversation with Sora and get to know him.

He approached Sora as the boy was rifling through his locker after lunch. Riku leaned on his arm on the other side of the locker door. Sora looked at Riku, apprehensive and a bit scared, as he was stuck between Riku and his locker door.

"Hey, I'm Riku," Riku said with a smile.

"Um, yeah, I know. I-I'm Sora."

An awkward silence stretched between the two of them. Riku's mind blanked suddenly and Sora couldn't think of anything to say, so he smiled instead.

"Um," Riku said, to try and ignite a conversation. Sora didn't pick up on it, and he continued smiling at Riku, making the moment exponentially more awkward.

"Listen, I have to go to English," Sora said, his brain finally kicking in. "See you around!" Riku didn't move. Sora struggled to close his locker with Riku's close proximity. The brunette stood awkwardly in front of Riku, rug sack on back.

"Oh!" Riku exclaimed. He stepped aside for Sora to pass, who smiled at him as he went. Riku groaned as soon as he was out of earshot of Sora. He hit his head on the lockers in frustration. "I'm such an idiot," he muttered.

* * *

**It's so sweet, don'cha think?**

**Also, the story about Axel and Seifer will also crop up later in the story (have yet to write that part though). **

**Tell me what you think, kay? And I'll post some moar :)**

**Signing off:**

**Caneater.**


	3. Blame it on the alcohol

**Chap 3 is FINALLY up. Sorry it took so long. Almost finished my final exams of school. but they've been pretty hectic so far :). Thanks for the (only) review:). Gave me that motivation to put up the third chapter in the end. Get me off me arse :)**

**Oh, and RARA ROGER FEDERER! If you don't know, he's is back on top after beating Rafael Nadal (in three sets) in London on court! Very proud of the guy (half South African, mind you!) and glad to see him claim his crown again :). **

**Just so you're not confused, the first bit of the chapter are the characters getting ready to do out. See if you can guess who they are :)**

**Rated M in this chapter for drunkeness and swearing. Enjoy reading :)**

**

* * *

**

Hair gel styled in to blond locks, standing in nothing but a towel. Deodorant, cologne. Worn out dark blue jeans, turquoise dress shirt, seashell necklace, and key chain. Cellphone, keys, iPod.

Three quarter pants, dark blue t-shirt, beaded necklace, key chain. Towel dry chocolate brown hair. Oversized skater shoes. Cellphone, wallet, keys on bed, forgotten.

Comb through pale blond, sprinkle perfume, light make-up, light pink wrinkled top and white three quarters, pumps. Lip ice on pale lips, thrown in handbag with cellphone, tampons, purse and iPod.

Borrowed green sparkly top from twin, jumping into tight skinnies from last summer, choker, carefully styled red hair with hairdryer and mousse, heavy dark make-up and lip gloss. High heels. Cellphone jammed into pocket with lip gloss, mascara, mini torch.

Turquoise eyes lined with black, tight-fitting faded jeans, wife-beater with waistcoat, All Stars, carefully combed long silver hair, good luck charm. Check for condoms, cellphone and wallet. Go downstairs.

Numerous bracelets on thin wrists, leather pants, belt, tight-fitting shirt. Necklaces. Gel in wet red hair, black boots, fingerless biker gloves. Condoms, cellphone, cards. Eyeliner. Last check in mirror.

Let's roll.

When Roxas arrived at Riku's huge expansive mansion of a house, the crowd was pumping. Miraculously, there was a huge space for the dance floor, packed with teenagers with red plastic cups in hand, dancing to the beat emanating from speakers that were taller than Roxas himself.

Grabbing a drink (from the copious amounts of alcohol on the table), Roxas decided to explore the place to look for familiar faces. Before he got past the dance floor, Kairi grabbed his wrist and dragged him through a mass of writhing bodies until he landed in front of the lunch table, minus Cloud, Tifa and Demyx. He greeted Sora, Kairi and Namine with a grin. A hand on his shoulder told him that Axel was right behind him. An addictive rhythm started through the room, and Roxas started his moving his body, his head grooving to the beat.

Roxas soon noticed Seifer in the crowd, quite close to the small group. Roxas quickly downed what was left of his drink and pushed his way out of the crowd. As soon as he was out, an arm linked with his and he found Namine at his side. "Let's go get a drink," she said in his ear. Roxas smiled and together they walked out of the house to the expansive backyard.

Kairi, Sora and Axel were still dancing for a while when Roxas and Namine left, and they were soon joined by Riku. The silverette gave a brotherly hug to Axel and nodded at all the rest. Kairi, even though she was hot from all the dancing, felt herself heat up even more when Riku had arrived.

Riku, least to say, was pretty darn sexy on the dance floor. He knew that he was good, and he let himself go, his hips shaking to the heavy beat from the sound system. Kairi's eyes fluttered as she noticed this, and couldn't help glancing at Riku every few seconds.

Blind as Sora was, he was also thirsty. Grabbing a reluctant and flushed Kairi, he dragged her to the drinks table.

"You alright?" he asked, pouring her some punch.

Kairi frowned and said, "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." She glanced at the vibed crowd reluctantly. Nevertheless, she sat with Sora and sipped her drink.

"Party's cool, huh?" Sora shouted to her. Kairi nodded. She sat with his legs crossed, one foot jingling, her eyes searching the crowds. She then saw Riku and Axel standing apart from the crowd. Axel had his back facing Kairi, talking in very close quarters with Riku. Riku peered around Axel to look at Kairi with a level gaze. She blushed slightly and turned away. Axel then leaned down close to Riku and whispered in his ear. Riku smiled and started walking to Kairi, leaving Axel smiling and looking at the ceiling.

Riku offered his hand to Kairi, which she promptly took, leaving Sora seething on his lonesome. He watched for a few moments as Riku grabbed Kairi's hips and brought her extremely close to him, their bodies swaying in time to the music, Riku's silver head buried in her neck, Kairi's hands around his neck, leaning her head against Riku's chest. Sora looked at the couple darkly before he stormed out.

Roxas and Namine sat for a couple of hours outside the house, over looking the huge pool. Roxas found himself pleasantly enjoying her company, especially when they were purposefully isolated from the party. As they talked, old feelings for the pale blond resurfaced, and he thought that he wouldn't mind entering a relationship with her. She was a nice enough girl, and he laughed easily when he was around her.

Around 12.30, Namine announced she had to leave. Roxas walked her through the now thoroughly drunk crowd to the front door, passing an interesting battle of Singstar. He kissed her on the cheek and then realised something.

"Hey, what about Kairi?" he called after her.

She waved her cellphone. "She said she'll be coming later."

Roxas nodded and closed the door behind her. Then he made his way to the battle of Singstar. Which wasn't a battle. It was a duet. Riku and Axel were singing something called"If I Didn't Have You" and they were both doing extremely well.

Riku sang mostly the higher register in an amazing falsetto voice that could compete with the actual singer. Axel's tenor voice harmonised with Riku almost effortlessly. They worked splendidly as a team, and they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The rest of the crowd was too drunk to realise the quality of the singing. Roxas also had a sense that they did this a lot before.

Afterwards, Axel noticed Roxas and went over, slinging an arm around the blond's shoulders. "You been enjoying yourself?" he said in Roxas' ear.

"Yeah, I guess," Roxas replied with a shrug, inserting his hands into his pockets.

Axel looked shocked. "Well, you didn't enjoy the best part!" He steered Roxas to the dance floor when they heard a loud resounding crash. The pair stopped and turned. Sora was sprawled on the floor, an empty bowl of punch on his head.

"Shit," Roxas muttered and ran over to his cousin. "Sor, you okay?" But Sora's words were so badly slurred Roxas couldn't make out head or tail. "Come on, bud," Roxas said, slinging Sora's arm around his shoulder and picking him up. "Let's take you home."

"I don't wanna go!" Sora exclaimed. "Parents...angry."

"Well, then my place," Roxas compensated. Sora seemed to be happy with it as he slumped against Roxas, almost causing the blond to stagger.

"He looks in pretty bad shape," Axel said as he came over to the pair. "Where you going with him?"

"I'm taking him to my place," Roxas replied.

"I'll go with you," Axel said in worried tones. "Help you with a carrying and all."

"Did ya see Riku and Kairi hitting it off?" Axel asked as they walked along the pavement.

"No, not really."

Axel gave a low whistle. "It's not gonna last though," he added. Roxas looked at him over Sora. "Riku's girlfriends don't last a few weeks."

"Hardly surprising," Roxas said, accompanied with an eye roll.

Sora suddenly turned pale.

"Uh oh," Axel and Roxas said in unison. They quickly steered Sora to a nearby garden to do his business.

"Wouldn't think he would actually get drunk," Roxas muttered as they continued to walk.

Axel raised his eyebrows. "From what I get from Sora, he's largely misunderstood. He's probably gone through things that no normal teenager has been through, but he tries to hide it. Most people buy it from the mask of a smile...but I don't." Roxas looked at his cousin. How much they had both changed, how much he had missed. Maybe if Roxas stayed around, they both would be different people. "He's missed you, you know," Axel said to Roxas softly. "Couldn't stop talking about you when he came back from his mom's sabbatical."

Roxas smiled at his cousin, emotion welling up in his throat. "Missed you too, buddy."

They arrived at Roxas' place half an hour later. Axel held Sora as his cousin fumbled with his keys to let them inside.

"Nice place," Axel muttered and he walked in.

Roxas smiled and thanked him. It had vaguely the same open plan setup as Tifa's place, although much bigger. "We have a spare bedroom on the bottom floor," he said. "Sora can overnight there."

After they settled Sora in, switched off his light and closed the door, Axel stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets in the middle of Roxas' living room. "I better go," he said.

"You can stay over if you want," Roxas said quickly. "Just to say...thanks with helping me with Sora. Wouldn't want you to walk all the way back home anyway."

"Serious?"

"Yeah, my couch is comfortable enough."

Axel smiled and thanked him. Together they flopped unceremoniously on the couch.

"Keen for some Xbox?" Roxas asked the red head.

Axel grinned, his pointed canines showing prominently. "Always."

Roxas woke up the next morning, sprawled across Axel. His head was on the red head's chest, Axel's one arm across Roxas' back. Roxas didn't even remember falling asleep.

Slightly embarrassed, Roxas extricated himself from Axel's sleeping form and padded into the kitchen, barefoot, the frayed ends of his jeans trailing after him. He puttered around the counter in order to make fresh coffee. He heard a toilet flush, and soon afterwards, Sora stumbled into the kitchen in a groggy fashion, clutching his head for dear life.

"What happened last night?" Sora groaned, collapsing against the counter.

"Do you really wanna know?" Roxas asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Sora, face in hand, peeked at his cousin through his fingers. "Say it quickly."

"You got incredibly drunk last night and Axel and I had to take you to my place."

Sora groaned. "Axel's here?"

Roxas nodded, pouring fresh coffee into three mugs and handed one to Sora. "He's on the couch. Get more sleep or something. You look like a troll."

Sora mumbled his thanks and stumbled out of the kitchen, mug of coffee in his hands. Roxas shook his head, smiling affectionately. He took the remaining two cups into the lounge. He poked Axel awake and shoved a mug into his hands.

"Have I woken up in heaven?" Axel asked groggily, accepting the cup of joe and taking a good whiff of it.

Roxas raised an eyebrow and turned on the Xbox. Axel chuckled. "It's an old pick up line involving a hot blond and a cup of coffee." He stood up and groaned. "I have a fucking headache."

Roxas looked at the red head. "How much did you have last night."

"Two beers."

Roxas snorted. "Lightweight."

"I know," Axel groaned. "If I have _any_ alcohol, I get a huge headache." He barely opened his eyes to speak, and moved only to take a sip of coffee. "Sick cuppa coffee tho, Roxie."

"Thanks," Roxas grumbled.

"What time is it?"

"Nine."

"Fuuuuuck."

"Where's the other remote?" Roxas asked.

"Fuck, I don't know." Axel had now looked a lot fresher after Roxas goaded him into showering.

"You had it last," Roxas said pointedly.

"I don't remember," Axel said with a shrug.

"And here you tell everyone to get it memorised," Roxas said with an explosive sigh. "Fucking hypocrite."

"I'm like that," Axel said, grinning.

"Damn skippy."

So for the next few minutes, the boys searched the entire house for the bloody control. It seemed hopeless until eventually:

"I found it!" Axel exclaimed triumphantly from the kitchen.

"Where was it?" Roxas said, entering.

"In the fridge," Axel replied casually.

"The hell?" Roxas exclaimed.

"I got distracted by all this food. Speaking of which..."

Roxas rolled his eyes, snatched the control from Axel and flopped back on the couch. The red head followed a few minutes later, with a huge sandwich.

"So, Roxie, can I asked you something?"

Roxas shrugged, attention on the screen.

"Who do you like?"

That caused Roxas to stutter a little. It wouldn't be such an amazing idea to tell Axel that he was growing on him. Besides, like he thought earlier in the week, very square hole, very round peg. Or was it the other way around...damn. He soon got distracted by Axel's slouched form, and his mind flashed to how it moved on the dance floor the night before.

"Namine," Roxas then replied off-handedly.

Axel made a noise. "And here I thought you were gay."

Roxas wondered how the red head got to that conclusion so quickly. "I'm bisexual."

"Oh?" Axel's voice piqued with interest. Roxas then felt his presence incredibly close to him. Roxas turned to see Axel's face within kissing distance. "Tell me, Roxas," Axel said softly into Roxas' ear. "Have you ever felt pleasure from a man?"

Roxas kept silent, his heart pounding and his breath seemingly cut short. To be in such proximity with a guy like Axel...Roxas wasn't sure how he could control himself for much longer...

Until Sora burst into the room with renewed energy, "Ooo Xbox!" he exclaimed. "What are you guys playing?"

Axel quickly withdrew, looking slightly disappointed. Roxas was inwardly relieved, if not ruffled and flustered too. He fought hard to keep his body in control. Luckily Sora placed himself in between Axel and Roxas.

"Hey, so you gonna tell me why you went crazy last night?" Roxas asked his cousin as he handed him the fridge-control and Axel resumed consuming his giant sandwich.

Sora looked downcast. "I think it had to do with Kairi." Roxas frowned, but didn't say anything, a sign to keep his cousin talking. "I really liked her, guys. Like, ever since I came back I realised how pretty she was and stuff. It was even more awesome when she liked hockey as much as I did." He moodily started creating his profile. "But then, Riku, the friggin' water-polo god went and stole her...I don't have a chance with her any more."

Axel opened his mouth to say something, but Roxas shot a warning glance at the red head anyway. Axel cocked his head and had a this-will-help-him-i-promise look. Roxas rolled his eyes. "Listen, Sor. Riku doesn't have girls for more an a week or two. Kairi will be so upset, she'll run to you and then she'll be putty in your hands."

Sora shook his head. "But I'm nothing compared to Riku. That guy is the bar for her now. He's a water-polo god. And I'm some stupid hockey player..."

Ah, shit, Roxas thought to himself. He grabbed the control from Sora to prevent him from making an emo profile and said, "Listen, all you need now is good food, gaming, and us. And stay away from the drink, okay. You scared me there, buddy."

Sora smiled weakly at his cousin. "Thanks guys. This means a lot."

"Bu' I did nuffin'," Axel protested through a bite of his sandwich, lettuce poking out of his mouth.

Sora laughed and everything was all right again.

* * *

**The ending line is intentional, by the way :). Because it's kind of 'Disney'/Winnie the Pooh like and I just needed to add that innocence again. **

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. It's not the greatest I know, but the next one is about 9 pages long. Packed full of drama and stuff:).**

**I will be gone for the holidays for two weeks, but I will have my stuff with me, so I will update as frequently as possible :).**

**Thanks for reading and PLEASE review! Cos then more chapters will follow:).**

**Signing off:**

**Caneater.**


	4. Uncovered

**Another chapter! So early, you say? Well, it's going to be a busy few days, with ending my exams and packing up and leaving for two weeks (do not fear, I'm taking my writings with me, and I will update as much as I can :)). **

**This one is quite long, and it's a mixture of things really, and here's where things start to get interesting:). The love angles get looked at, and a little humour too:). **

**Rated M for swearing. **

* * *

Tifa's eyes snapped open. She hurriedly checked her alarm clock on her bedside table.

"Oh crap!" she exclaimed and scrambled out of bed. Ignoring the head rush, she tore downstairs, swearing obscenely. She stumbled into the kitchen and found Cid and Cloud sitting around the kitchen island, talking quietly, both fully dressed, the older man sipping some tea.

There was a moment of stunned silence as the two surveyed Tifa: her hair was in an absolute mess, dried drool trailing from the corner of her mouth, wearing Donald Duck silk boxers and a baby pink spaghetti top. Her eyes were still hazy with sleep.

"Well, good morning sunshine," Cid grumbled, chuckling faintly. "Thanks for my tea."

Tifa glanced at the kitchen clock and swore again. "I'm gonna be sooo late!" she groaned, turning around.

"You still have time, wench," Cis drawled. "Now get cracking!"

Ignoring the nickname, Tifa rushed back upstairs, threw on her usual clothes, tied her hair up into a loose ponytail, stuck some toothpaste and a toothbrush in her mouth, and ran back downstairs to the kitchen sink.

Spitting out toothpaste, she cried, "My bag!" and promptly inserted her toothbrush in her mouth. Cloud slowly lifted up her rugsack from beside him. Tifa beamed appreciatively at Cloud, then spat some more toothpaste out.

"Well!" She turned to the two blonds. "I'm ready!" Cloud and Cid looked at her for a second before bursting into laughter. "What?" Tifa asked, her face falling. Cid threw her a tea towel.

"Clean yourself up wench." Grimacing, Tifa grabbed the towel and wiped off the excess off her mouth.

She turned to Cloud. "Please tell me you brought Fenrir today."

Cloud looked at her apologetically. "Sorry Teef. I had to bring it into the shop today for a check up. You know it makes that sound when -"

"Yeah, I know. Lets go!" Tifa said hurriedly. She grabbed Cloud's arm, dragging him out the door, along with her rugsack. They bid farewell to Cid as they fast-walked off the lawn. They ran to school, as fast as their athletic bodies could take them. Soon, it became a race, a game they played during childhood. They stopped at the gates, panting and laughing.

"Hey, you forgot these," Cloud said. He rummaged in his back pocket and handed her the gloves that he promised he would buy her. They were black fingerless gloves, made from leather. They were re-inforced with steel at her knuckles, and had her name stitched in silver on the cuff.

She gasped as she took them from him. She smiled affectionately as she put them on. "Thanks Cloud." She gave him a long hug. She loved how he always smelled so clean and fresh, even after swimming practice. And after a jog or being in the workshop, Tifa expecially loved the smell of sweat and grease on him. It comforted her and made her smile.

Realising suddenly that they were hugging for too long, Tifa broke away, managing to look a little sheepish. She flexed her fingers and clenched them into a fist. "They're really comfy," she said with a smile.

"It should last you," Cloud said.

She looked at him tenderly. "What would I do without you, Cloud?" Cloud just smiled, inserting his hands into his pockets. Tifa then gave him a playful shove, knocking him off balance.

"Hey!" Cloud exclaimed at his disadvantage, and raced after Tifa through the grounds and into the passages.

"What's their problem?" Roxas asked as he watched Tifa vault over a desk standing outside a classroom, Cloud racing behind her.

Axel laughed and said, "I told you so."

Roxas looked at his tall friend in annoyance. Sora beside them meeped and hid behind his cousin. "And what's your problem?" Roxas asked him sternly.

"Hey guys!" It was Kairi. "Awesome party on Saturday. Uhm, why is Sora hiding behind you?" She peeked around Roxas and smiled at Sora.

Sora stuttered, open mouthed, his mind blank. "I-I-I am playing hide and seek with Cloud and Tifa."

Kairi laughed and ruffled his hair. "Hey, where's Namine?" Roxas asked Kairi.

"Oh, she's coming later. She got held up at the art department. Okay, I have to get to my home classroom. See you guys later."

"Smooth, Sora," Roxas commented flatly.

"Whaaat?"

"I thought he did pretty well," Axel said with a sly smile.

Roxas shoved him and the tall red head laughed openly.

* * *

"It's a known fact that Axel can't kiss," Kairi said rather loudly in the full dining hall on that Monday afternoon. The gang were lining up for their lunch when Kairi decided to announce the statement. Axel, of course, was atrophied by the statement. He spun quickly on his spot, which was between Demyx and Roxas, to face Kairi.

"What?" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"It's true," Kairi said airily.

"You speak from experience," Cloud said dully from behind her.

"You don't need experience to know that Axel can't kiss," Kairi scoffed, reddening slightly.

Axel, however, was also reddening. "Where did this come from?" he demanded, now outraged,

Kairi jabbed in front of her and Axel glared at what she was pointing at. There beheld the innocent face of Roxas, staring up at Axel.

"It wasn't me, buddy," he said flatly.

Axel focused his green glare back at Kairi, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"If you find it so offensive," Tifa said from behind Cloud, "you should prove it."

Oh yes, Axel found it offensive, and if this was the length that he had to take, then so be it. He dropped his satchel from his shoulder and walked around Roxas to stand in front of Kairi in some kind of child like huff. Then Axel touched Kairi's arm and let it linger there for a moment, then leaned forward and kissed her.

The dining hall faded into a hushed and curious silence as they watched Kairi and Axel kissing in front of them (except for Demyx, who had his back to the scene, and was listening to some rather good music at the time). Everyone knew that Axel and Kairi were great friends, but everyone knew that Kairi hooked up with someone else on Saturday night. What did this all _mean_?

When Kairi and Axel broke their kiss, the rest of school broke their silence and huddled into a frenzy of mumbles and conversations. Axel straightened and looked at Kairi with the same determination as before.

"Now, after all of that," Axel said loudly, gesturing to Kairi. "_Tell _me now I can't kiss."

Kairi just stood there for a moment, her eyes blank and her fingers touching her lips uncertainly. Finally, she came back to life and looked up at Axel. "You can't kiss, Axel."

"Oh, come _on!_" Axel exclaimed in exasperation. The whole dining hall burst into laughter, as Axel stormily returned to his spot in front of Roxas.

"I can tell you who _can _kiss though," Kairi said. Axel turned back to her. Who dares to over rule Axel's record. Huh? HUH?

"Who is it, missy?"

"Riku can kiss," she said.

"Ri – hang on, how do you know that Riku can kiss?"

"That doesn't matter," Kairi waved the topic away. "What does matter is that he can kiss."

"Someone said my name?" A silver head poked out from somewhere down the line. Axel did the same and acted like he noticed Riku for the very first time...and looked like he was impressed.

"Come teach Axel how to kiss," Kairi called.

Riku looked at Axel, who pulled out his tongue at the silverette. Riku smiled and looked uncertainly at Kairi. He raised an eyebrow but said, "All right then." He dropped his own bag and prepared to make his was to Axel.

The red-head mentioned schmoozed his lips and started to take a few steps to Riku. But before he could get very far, Axel was choked by someone pulling his tie. It was Roxas, looking very stormy indeed.

"Axel, you're holding up the line, and I'm getting hungry," Roxas said flatly.

Axel's face was crestfallen when he looked back at Riku. "We'll save it for a rainy day, ya?"

"Sure thing," came the reply.

* * *

The next day, Riku and Kairi walked into the school holding hands. Kairi was grinning like she just scored an amazing goal. Riku, however, looked cool, calm and collected as usual. Sora soon spotted the couple walking down the passage as he was struggling to open his locker. Abandoning his attempt, he ran into a deserted corridor. He clutched his panicked heart, breathing shallowly.

He didn't know why he felt like this. Maybe it hurt Sora to see Kairi with another guy. Yeah, that's probably it. Maybe he should get over her. Yes, that sound like a good idea. Despite that, he really wanted to curl up into small ball and die, the world must leave him alone. He peeked into the corridor and saw Riku whisper something to Kairi, who smiled and walked away, leaving Riku alone.

Oh no, Sora said as he saw Riku continuing down the corridor. _Don'tcomehere,don'tcomehere,don'tcomehere..._

"Hey Sora!" Sora closed his eyes. Great. He opened his eyes and looked through his fingers. "Why you over here?"

"Uuuuhhh," Sora said, his mind going blank. "I'm lost?"

Riku chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair. "I wanted to ask you something, short cake." At that Riku inwardly winced. _Short cake?_ He _seriously_ couldn't think of anything else to call him?

But Sora, who shared Roxas' annoyance to all those who challanged his lack of vertical-ness, tore his hand away from his face, forgetting his embarrassment entirely for the sake of reprimanding Riku.

Riku smiled. This was going well, he thought. "Was wondering if you wanted to have milkshakes at The Bastion?"

Sora brightened. "Who's all gonna be there?"

"Just us."

Sora looked confused for a second, but then put on a big smile. "Okay. Sounds great! See you there at three."

"Great!" Riku said. They looked at each other for a few moments as their usual awkward silence stretched out between them. The panicked feeling within Sora returned.

"Okayseeyouthere! Gottagonowthanksbye!" Sora gushed, and sprinted down the corridor at an amazing speed. Riku sighed explosively, leaning against the wall. He hoped that this afternoon would be better than this.

* * *

"Tifa," Leonhart called as she passed by his desk.

"Yeah?" Tifa asked, stopping, weight resting on one leg. Leonhart waited until the whole class filed out, Cloud taking his time, trying hard not to look at either Leonhart or Tifa.

"I enjoyed your idea today in class, Tifa," he said, folding his hands together, his face betraying no emotion. "I'd like to hear more of them later." Tifa swallowed nervously. Although she had various discussions with Leonhart, nothing further happened between the two of them. Even though Leonheart was a bitch to read, Tifa couldn't help but admire the broadness of his shoulders, the fineness of his shoulder-length brunette hair, his stormy-grey eyes that betrayed no emotion and penetrated one's soul. She wasn't like the sighing girls in the lower grades, even if there were some in her own grade, but anyway, Tifa knew that Leonhart wouldn't go for any of them. Until now. But this was a _teacher, _Tifa kept thinking to herself_._

Leonhart continued, "Perhaps in Way to Dawn at three-thirty?"

Tifa arrived late to lunch, looking quite distracted. Not trusting herself to talk to Cloud, she took aside Axel for a walk on the grounds.

"So Leonheart asked you to coffee?" Axel asked her in disbelief. Tifa nodded, her lips pursed. "Wow, I didn't even know if it's even allowed. And it's a really fancy place, too." He gave a low whistle. "So what did you say?"

Tifa took a while to respond. "I said I would be there."

Axel's smile was wide. "So, why not?"

"Cloud...he seems just...really not happy with Leonheart in the first place, for some reason. Maybe I should just leave it, you know. It doesn't feel right -"

"Tifa, no. You need to see other people. If Cloud isn't happy with you, screw him. If he wanted to do something about it, he should've done it a long time ago." Tifa gave him an uncertain look. Axel grabbed her shoulders. "Go for it Tifa. You're basically out of here. It might not even lead to anything else. Besides, it's just coffee."

* * *

After the hustle and bustle of the day, Roxas decided to take directions from Axel to the front door instead of an escort. The blond walked in the empty corridors at a leisurely pace, trying to calm himself from the busy-ness of the day. And the few awkward moments with Axel, of course as a result of what _nearly _happened on Sunday morning.

Hmmm, Axel, Roxas mused. What an interesting guy, with a gorgeous body, but a weird attitude. Something was special about him, he wasn't normal. The guy also piqued Roxas' interest, but strangely also made him feel comfortable in this strange environment. Roxas only hoped, again, that his family would stay for good this time.

Observing the corridors as he went, and memorising routes to his various classes, Roxas saw something interesting. On an oak door was the sign, _Music Block_. His mind reeling with memories of the old days of playing his saxophone and singing, he cautiously pushed the door open. He was met by a network of corridors, with lockers with various students' instruments and practice rooms. They were currently silent. Bar one.

There was singing, Roxas discerned, as prowling through the corridors to find the source. As he came closer, he could also hear some piano. He eventually found himself at the doorway of the auditorium, and shock grabbed Roxas as he saw who it was.

Tifa was on stage playing the piano softly. Cloud was nearby, singing his heart out. His voice clawed at Roxas' heart, stirring emotions that he thought he buried a long time ago. It was heart wrenching to the point where one felt one was so close to tears but had to choke it out. And when it came out, you could cry for hours and feel it hadn't been enough, yet there were no more tears to shed. Roxas watched Cloud in awe, mesmerized by his bent form, closed eyes and rocking body in an act that could only be described as hopelessness.

Roxas then shook himself mentally, knowing he stepped in at the wrong moment entirely. He turned to leave but then a large BANG ensued, followed by a deafening silence. Roxas' foot caught one of the chairs and turned it over. His neck prickled uncomfortably as he felt the two seniors' eyes on him. He winced and turned slowly to face them.

Cloud's eyes were now open, staring at Roxas in shock and realisation before his emotions shut down completely. _Oh shit_, Roxas thought to himself. _They__ are gonna hate me_. He watched at Cloud silently snatched his satchel from the floor and strode out of the auditorium, purposefully and powerfully bumping Roxas' shoulder on his way.

"Guess I deserved that," Roxas muttered, his eyes downcast. He looked up at Tifa, who had a hopeless smile on her face and shaking her head.

"I – I'm really sorry," Roxas stammered. "I didn't mean to barge in like that. I'll just -" Roxas turned to leave again.

"Wait!" Tifa cried. She vaulted off the stage and ran down to him. "Cloud's just being silly, even if it was a heavy moment you stepped into."

"Sorry," Roxas repeated, not wanting to meet Tifa's eye.

Tifa laughed and clasped Roxas' shoulder with surprising strength. "Stop apologising! Let me make up for Cloud's hissy fit, okay?" She smiled at him warmly. "Come and have lunch over at my place. I'm sure we'd love some company."

Roxas looked at Tifa, surprised. "You sure you want me there?"

She chuckled, "Silly. I wouldn't have asked you otherwise! Come on then. I'm sure you're starving!"

Roxas' stomach spoke for him promptly.

* * *

"It's just me and my godfather here," Tifa said while she was digging for her keys in her satchel by the front door. She opened it and walked in, dumping her bag on the couch. She shook her hair slightly before shouting, "Cid! I'm home!"

Roxas placed his satchel next to hers and followed her into the open kitchen.

"I have to make lunch today," Tifa said almost apologetically, fixing an apron on her. "My godfather is an ol' grease monkey, but he cooks alright. Learned everything from him." She smiled affectionately to herself as she took out a pot from the shelf.

"Can I ask you a question then?" Roxas asked cautiously, while sliding onto a barstool situated by the kitchen island.

"Sure," Tifa said with an open smile while she fetched cool drinks.

"Where are your parents then?"

Tifa set two glasses down on the island and opened the juice. "They died when I was three," she said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Roxas said, embarrassed. Hurt was reflected in his eyes. Family was one of the most important things to Roxas, and he couldn't bear to lose any one of them.

Tifa looked at him with gratitude. "Nah, it's okay," she said as she poured the juice. "I hardly remember them anyway. Cid's been taking care of me ever since." She handed him a glass of juice.

Before Roxas could thank her, a voice boomed from beyond the dining room behind him. "Where's my goddamn tea?"

Roxas slowly turned in his chair to find a dirty man with goggles perched on his forehead, his face outlined in cleanliness in its use. He had blond stubble and he chewed on a toothpick. He had a stocky build, looked about in his 40's, but his bright blue eyes suggested he saw much more than his age. A spotted white cloth hung from his shoulder.

Despite the swearing, Tifa smiled charmingly at her godfather and pointed to the kitchen sink. "Wash your hands first and then you get your tea."

"Why the hell do I need to wash my hands just have a cup of fucking tea?" Cid cried incredulously.

"It's unhygienic, for one," Tifa replied with her hands on her hips.

"It's not like I'm gonna stick my fingers in it!"

Tifa looked at her godfather evenly.

"Oh fine!" he burst out, exasperated.

With a smirk of victory, Tifa returned to her cooking.

Throughout the meal, Roxas found the company of Tifa and her godfather very enjoyable. He could see that the two shared an unmistakable bond, even though it was expressed much differently to how Roxas showed affection with his family. Tifa had her godfather around her little finger, yet Cid did not seem to mind. They bickered constantly and both were extremely competitive, but the love between the two was so strong. Roxas found himself smiling easier.

After the trio had sufficiently eaten, Tifa jumped up and said, "Roxas, let me show you something." She led him to the dining room behind the kitchen, where a large grand piano resided. She sat at the piano and patted the empty spot next to her, looking at her godfather with a clear challenge in her eyes. Cid sighed and made himself get up to go the piano. He looked at Tifa under his bushy eyebrows.

"You sure you wanna do this, girly?"

Tifa smiled dangerously. "I'm gonna woop your ass," she said confidently.

Cid smiled and said, "You gonna start?"

Tifa winked at her godfather and then explained to Roxas, "What happens is that I play something, and Cid has to echo me, two notes behind. The winner either loses the chaser, or keeps up with the leader." Tifa looked at her piano. "Let's go."

It was pretty intense, Roxas decided, as he watched their hands dance over the keyboard, producing intricate melodies and rhythms. Roxas completely lost track of what was happening until the pair eventually finished with a flourish.

"Ha!" Cid cried triumphantly. "I win!"

"What?" Roxas cried, utterly confused.

"Gimme the money girly!" Cid said, gesturing with his hands. Tifa sighed and took a few coins from her shorts.

Roxas' mouth fell open. "You guys actually bet on each other?" he said, astonished.

"Damn skippy," Cid said with a pleased grin. Tifa pouted slightly.

"Unfair," she announced, Roxas taken aback by her sudden show of childishness. And then she laughed. And then Cid laughed. Roxas broke into a faint smile. Oh, he loved the bond between the pair of these characters. He felt a small ache in his stomach. He glanced at the kitchen clock and gasped slightly.

"I have to get back home!" he exclaimed.

"Gosh, it is pretty late," Tifa said, breaking away from her laughter. She led Roxas back to the lounge.

"Walk safe, boy," Cid said from the piano. "Sure you don't need a lift?"

"No thanks, my house isn't far from here," Roxas said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Today was fun, Rox," Tifa said with a fond smile. "We should do this again, ya know?"

"Yeah. I like you kid," Cid said with a rough smile. "Reminds me a bit of Cloud when he was younger."

Roxas' stomach suddenly plummeted when he remembered the incident earlier in the afternoon. Despite that, he thanked Cid and Tifa and headed out the door.

Roxas hardly got off Tifa's garden path before he saw Cloud coming up towards him. Roxas stood stock-still, and watched Cloud pass him wordlessly. Unscathed, Roxas continued his way off the premises.

"Hey, kid," Cloud's soft voice called him back. Roxas stopped and looked over his shoulder at the tall, muscled teen. "About this afternoon -"

"I'm really sorry about that!" Roxas exclaimed before Cloud could go further.

Cloud had a ghost of a smile on his face and paused. "Just don't let it happen again."

Roxas nodded and then left wordlessly.

* * *

**Whew, there was a lot there that had to be done. I hope it's not too confusing, and that you all enjoyed it.**

**As you might have noticed, Riku has now got a bit of courage back when it comes to talking to Sora! Next chapter, there will be some locker scenes (not intense at all...yet) and a few heated arguments will ensue!**

**Reviews will be fantastic. They keep my will to write :)**

**Signing off:**

**Caneater**


	5. Soundtracks and Comebacks

**I apologise profusely because I said I would update regularly, and I haven't, so I'm VERY VERY VERY sorry. Had NO inspiration, but then, all of a sudden, it hit me, and voila, I finally got to finish this chapter!**

**Unfortunately, I have to say that this chapter is for Alex, my ex-best friend. We turned ugly a few weeks ago. It was partly my fault because I was a bitch in the end. And Demyx reminds me so much of him. He plays the bass and the double bass now with the now Head of Music department at Rhodes University. Anyway, he won't read this anyway, but this one is for him, I guess.**

**This chapter is more musical than most, because it's a part of me that I can't ever get rid of (indeed, I'm studying in Cape Town next year, Bachelor of Music no doubt!). But some Demyx will now come into the story, finally, because I think he's totally adorable.**

**Rated M for mild violence and swearing.**

**

* * *

**

"Hey Sora!" Roxas called from the other side of the astro. His cousin stopped as Roxas jogged across the field to meet him. He was wearing full hockey gear from the practice they had a few minutes before: black shorts, a blue t-shirt, long socks with shin pads still strapped underneath them (**A/N: digusting, I know!). **His hockey kit was stashed in his locker safely. "Thanks for the one on one," Roxas said to Sora. "Better than any waterpolo practice," he added with a grin.

"Aw, shucks man," Sora said, managing to look slightly embarrassed while ruffling the back of his hair.

Roxas took a firm grip of his cousin's shoulder and his grin widened. "I think I'm gonna try for the team."

"You totally have to!" Sora exclaimed. "Geez, without training you give me a bit of trouble! What a forward you'll make!" Roxas laughed. "I'm serious! Imagine. You, me and Kairi just breaking though the defense like it was made outta glass! We'll be invincible!"

Roxas smirked at the thought. "All right, man. I gotta run. Check you later," he said. He ran off. He dragged his hand through his sweaty hair as he thought about the practice with Sora. It made him feel incredibly elated and excited, his stomach was fluttering at the thought of scoring a goal and the stands erupting into cheers. Roxas strode into the bathrooms with a huge, stupid grin on his face. But, unfortunately, he strode in exactly at the wrong time.

Seifer was standing over the sink, his hair dripping with water, splashing into the sink below. Roxas had never seen Seifer without his beanie, and thought to himself: _who would want to hide hair like that?_ It was straight and fine, something that Roxas always envied having. However, Roxas caught himself quickly when he realised whose hair he was admiring. He started to back out slowly but it was too late.

"_Va te faire foutre._"

Roxas spun on the spot, all thought of escaping wiped cleanly from his brain. He glared at Seifer. "Hockey?" Seifer exclaimed in disbelief. "From waterpolo? What sort of sick fuck are you?" He slammed Roxas into the bathroom wall, palm on his chest. "You're really fucked up now," Seifer whispered raggedly. His other hand pinned Roxas' shoulder to the wall, pinching so tight it really hurt. Roxas screwed up his eyes to prevent them from watering. "Oh, yeah, you're up shit creek now," Seifer now whispered in Roxas' ear.

A voice at the doorway prevented Seifer from causing any more damage to Roxas.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Roxas opened his eyes to see a tall blonde guy with an impressive mo-hawk with two stripes shaved on the side. He threw Seifer off Roxas, the former smashing into the bathroom sinks with a heavy thud.

"I saw what you did to Roxas last time!" the guy with the mo-hawk said. "Keep the hell away from him."

Seifer was pale as he straightened, smoothed out his white coat and strode quickly out the bathroom. He was obviously frightened of the senior. At least the boy had some kind of measure of respect. "Are you alright?' Demyx leaned over Roxas, his bright baby-blue eyes now filled with concern. His cheeks were not quite chubby, his eyes with big, giving the first glance of Demyx a look of innocence and ignorance.

Roxas' mouth was open in disbelief as he glanced at the doorway. "What did you do to him?"

Demyx chuckled in reply. "Senior's get respected around here. Even Seifer knows that. That's why he didn't fight back when Tifa and Axel beat him up in the dining hall." Roxas' eyes widened in comprehension. He only wished he was a few years older than Seifer. "Did he hurt you again?" Demyx asked, checking Roxas for any visible injuries with a flick of his eyes.

"Nah, he just hurt my shoulder a bit." He rolled it back a few times. "It should be fine I think."

Demyx smiled with twinkling eyes, now satisfied. "Lemme take you out for ice-cream. Just for the shock," he added with a wink.

* * *

They sat on the hill looking over most of the school property. They saw the glorious expanse of the hockey Astro-turf, the swimming facilities, the golden-roofed school buildings and the cafetaria.

Roxas felt stunned – firstly because of the view, and secondly because he had never even spoke to Demyx before today. And now the guy was saving him and buying him ice cream. Roxas then decided that the more time that was spent at Radient High, the stranger things became.

"So do you play any sport?" Roxas asked, wanting to know a little more about his rescuer.

"Yeah. I'm in the swimming team with Cloud and them." He glanced at Roxas' attire. "Hockey now?"

"Yeah, Sora got me into it," Roxas shrugged and smiled. "I'm gonna try for the team tomorrow. It's better than anything I've done before."

Demyx smiled, staring off into the distance. "I know exactly how that feels like." Roxas gave Demyx a questioning look. "I play the guitar," Demyx explained. "I loved her ever since I touched her."

Roxas pensively licked his ice cream. "So music's your thing, right?"

Demyx snorted derisively. "It's more like my life." Roxas smiled. He looked at Demyx more carefully, noticing the large baby-blue headphones that hung around his neck. "What do you listen to all the time?"

Demyx absently touched the headphones. "Oh, everything. You wanna listen?" Demyx handed his headphones to Roxas, digging for the iPod attached to it in the pocket of his tracksuit top. As Roxas slid them over his ears, he heard the most intricate guitar work he had ever encountered.

"This is amazing," Roxas said to Demyx in astonishment.

"Really?" At this Demyx's eyes lit up. "Most people think it's just noise, but once you hear all the intricacies of the instruments, then you really start to appreciate the music."

"Yeah, I used to take music really seriously back in Twilight Town," Roxas said with nostalgia. "I had a group of friends who played in a kind of a big band."

"Oh? What did they play?" Demyx asked, leaning forward in interest.

"Pence played the tuba, Olette played the flute and Hayner…he played the trumpet." Roxas remembered, painfully, the jamming sessions they had together. He then realised that music would always be a part of him, like Sora and the rest of his family. He just couldn't ignore it any longer.

"What did you play?" Demyx asked, dragging Roxas out of his memories.

"Sax."

"Are you serious?" Demyx exclaimed excitedly. "You play jazz?"

"Yeah. The only reason why I wanted to pick it up."

"Ohmygosh! I have amazing work here. You haven't heard jazz like this before, I promise you!" Demyx spewed, grabbing the iPod and searching for music on it. "What kind of sax, by the way?"

"Alto." Roxas smiled as he rememebered the warm feeling he used to get whenever he played a single note, the rush of emotions as he played a whole piece, the intoxication as he improvised on it. The instrument reverberated against his fingers, the sound coming from the very depths of his soul. Oh he missed it. Every day.

Roxas turned to find Demyx on his back, sprawled in the grass, ice cream left forgotten, his eyes looking to the skies in disbelief, his breath short. "What's up?" Roxas asked, worried.

"The _alto_ sax? You're fucking _kidding _me! It's _the_ most sexiest instrument next to the double bass." He looked at Roxas with a smile. "You're quite the package, kid."

"Yeah, the double bass is nothing compared to the sax in my books."

" You haven't heard double bass until you've heard…" At this Demyx stopped, as thought he said something he shouldn't have. Then he continued excitedly, hauling himself up from the grass, "Okay, there's a lot of stuff I want you to listen to, so then, I'll lend it to ya for the week."

Roxas was flabbergasted. "Serious? You have this on you all the time – "

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's more of a distraction than anything. I have a few assignments to hand in and something crazy like three tests." He ran his hands through his hair, sighing. "I think it's better if you kept it."

Roxas smiled, feeling honoured. "Oh, hey, do you know where you can hire out instruments and stuff?"

Demyx pointed at the large buildings opposite Radient High. "That's the University of Radient Garden, with _the _best music department anywhere. Just follow the signs and the lady at the front desk to help ya."

"Thanks a lot," Roxas said with an excited grin.

"No problem. Hey, maybe karma will come back my way. You know, do good unto others and it might come back to you."

"Damn skippy," Roxas said. They bumped fists, stood up, and went their separate ways.

* * *

That night, Roxas lay on his bed, eyes closed, completely immersed in the music that Demyx gave him. He was left in awe, especially from the jazz collection. He listened to the intracasies of the solos and even the arrangements of the big band music. Roxas now only wished he took that deal back in Twilight Town, he wished that he bought that saxophone and brought it with him to Radient Garden.

Saddened, he dug out all his saxophone music from a shoebox underneath his bed and looked through them, humming a few lines of a melody here, smiling at the memories there, whilst listening to his favourite saxophone solo on its 6th repeat. He remembered all the performances and the jamming sessions with Pence, Olette and Hayner. Oh, Hayner. He missed Hayner the most. Roxas told himself that he should call him soon.

But he wanted it all. He wanted it all back.

* * *

A few days later, Roxas appeared at the University, feeling slightly nervous, yet exhilarated. The campus was enormous, bigger than anywhere else he'd been. The neo-classical architectural style was majestic and detailed, the heights of the buildings dizzying. Although, since his time with Axel, he found that that height difference didn't matter to him any more. That didn't stop Roxas' neck from cramping because he he looked up so much.

The campus was crammed with students, laughing and joking around. Some were talking about classes, others talked about their parties, politics or sports. It was so different to Radient High, it felt like he was in another city completely. So enclosed and isolated from the rest of the city.

Like the first day of school, Roxas took his directions from a nearby student (which were rather lengthy and Roxas had to repeat them to himself profusely in order to remember them), and then he set off on an intrepid adventure.

Not much happened, though, but Roxas found himself – 20 minutes later nonetheless – outside a giant building with a shiny plaque on it that said: _Music Department_. Giving himself a mental pat on the back, Roxas entered.

It was a small entryway, carpeted and well-lit, with posters of original scores lining the walls, as well as honoured gradients of the University. Behind a screen sat a rather old, plump lady with kind eyes resting behind half-moon glasses. Her hair was curled and grey, but despite her age, her eyes still beheld considerable youth in them. She wore flowing clothes of light blue.

"Excuse me," Roxas said rather nervously, approaching the screen.

The old lady looked up and gave him a jolly smile. "What can I help you with, dear?"

"Someone told me I could hire out some instruments here."

"Of course you can dear. What instrument in particular?"

"Alto saxophone."

"Let me check the database, then, sweet heart." As she typed on her keyboard, she muttered underneath her breath: "Bibbity, bobbity boo!"

"Thanks," Roxas replied rather uncertainly. He looked around the small entrance-way, examining the original scores lining the walls, paying attention to the arrangement and the instrumentation. Some were quite bizarre, others were the normal format, others mentions instruments that Roxas had never head of before.

Then someone burst in through the front door in a flurry of movement, looking extremely out of breath, with a guitar case slung over his shoulder. It took a few moments for Roxas to realise who it was.

"Demyx?" he asked, aghast.

Demyx stopped to look at Roxas. He then grinned. "Hey Roxas! What're you doing here?" he asked in surprise.

"I'm hiring out a sax, believe it or not."

"No freakin' way!" Demyx exclaimed, enveloping Roxas in a bear hug. "I knew I made some kind of influence on you!"

Roxas, feeling slightly embarrassed, remembered, "Oh, and thanks for the music you lent me. Some of the stuff was totally mind-blowing." He dug in his satchel and handed Demyx his iPod and enormous headphones. "Say," Roxas asked, curiousity spiking up, "what're _you _doing here?"

Before Demyx could reply, someone stepped into the doorway opposite the front entrance and said, "There you are."

Roxas turned to find a guy his height with slate-grey hair, his side-fringe hanging over one eye, the other eye was a rather enchanting dark-blue colour. His face was completely emotionless and his stance was non-committal. Roxas never saw this guy at the school, so who the hell was he?

Roxas looked back at Demyx, hoping to get some answers from him. But the blonde senior had the most stupid look on his face, his eyes growing almost puppy-like in adoration, his smile distant and soft, as if he was absolutely enthralled by the newcomer's presence. It seemed for a few moments that he couldn't speak at all until he snapped out of it.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute," he said softly. The new guy nodded and headed back down the passage. Roxas gave Demyx an upraising look. Demyx smiled as he looked down at his shoes, almost blushing. "He's, uh, a friend of mine," he said quietly. "We jam together most of the time. Anyway, I have to slide. I'll check you later!" With that, he whirled out of the entrance-way, following the slate-coloured guy down the passage.

"Excuse me,dear." It was the lady behind the desk. "I have a saxophone available for hire. Do you want to have a look at it?"

* * *

It was a warm Wednesday afternoon in Radient Garden. The light was soft, and the leaves were just turning. Hockey season had just begun, and the first few practices had already commenced. But Tifa, the new elected captain, felt somehow unhappy with her team. She needed another element to it, yet she couldn't figure out what it was.

She slammed a shot into the goal-box with a grunt, before leaning heavily her stick in the 'D' of the Astro-turf. She felt frustrated with the past few days, although she was elated that hockey season had finally started. She was sure that her leadership would carry her team through a good season. She just hoped she had enough strength to do so. She shouldn't doubt her team members like that.

She then remembered that her centre-forward player, Sora, had suggested his cousin should try out for the team. She didn't know that Roxas even knew how to play hockey, but according to Sora he was pretty good. And anyone in Sora's book who was 'pretty good' was fucking amazing. Tifa only prayed Roxas was what she was looking for.

"Hey Tifa!" Someone called her from the swimming pool area. She turned to see Axel striding towards her, holding his hand up in greeting. She waved back and went to fetch her collection of hockey balls milling in the goalposts.

"Isn't it a bit weird for the defender to be practicing her goal shoots?" Axel asked when he was next to her.

Tifa shrugged. "It's better than shredding my knuckles on the punch bag."

"Shouldn't those new gloves that Cloud gave you help with that?" Axel asked, frowning.

He noticed she wasn't wearing them now. "I kinda want to save them for when I really need them, you know. They're actually quite expensive and – "

"Cloud gave them to you to wear, Teef," Axel pointed out with a smile. "You should at least do that justice."

She sighed and smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She neatly shot a hockey ball into the bottom left corner.

"So how did the date go?" Axel exclaimed.

"It was all right." Axel looked at her, his eyebrows raised. Tifa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's it. Only all right. We talked about history stuff and hobbies and stuff. It wasn't all that exciting."

"Did he try anything?"

"He just drove me home."

"A kiss at the door?"

"No."

"Nothing?" Axel said, exasperated.

"Nope." Tifa said with a smile. "It was nice for a change. Even if he's very closed off about himself. He's a decent guy I think."

"Think there's a second date?"

"I don't know. It's been a few days, and he hasn't said anything."

"Well he better, otherwise I'll take him," Axel said, pretending to whistle innocently. He received a playful punch from Tifa. "Oh, hark, who comes?" He said, perking up a little.

Tifa looked up and saw a brunette man leaning on the outer edge of the Astro-turf, watching the two of them. "Shit, it's Leonhart," Tifa whispered.

"Go and see what he wants!" Axel pushed her towards the teacher.

"Geez, okay," Tifa said, fixing her ponytail before making her way to the history teacher.

It was quite sometime before Tifa came silently back to the red head.

"So what did he say?"

Tifa hit another goal into the box, and then put her stick on her shoulders. She sighed. "He asked me out again for tomorrow."

Axel cheered and fist-pumped the air around him. "So it _was _more than just coffee! Who knew that Ms. Tifa Lockhart could land a sexy-ass like him?" Tifa frowned, not understanding. Axel sighed, exasperated. "You mean you've been here for five years and you've _never_ checked out Leonhart's ass in his tight leathers?"

Tifa raised an eyebrow.

Axel rolled his eyes and turned Tifa towards Leonhart's retreating figure. Leonhart's tall, manly, muscled, retreating figure, Tifa added to herself. After a few moments she said, "Yeah, he's got a damn sexy ass."

Axel grinned. "And you're gonna get a piece of that on the third date!"

Tifa turned to him, incredulous. "What third date?"

"Oh, come on! He asked you out for tomorrow –"

"You're going on a date, Teef?" a soft voice behind them asked.

They both turned to find Cloud, his hair wet from swimming practice, messed into a spikier style than normal. His bright blue eyes were lightly rimmed with the imprint of his swimming goggles; he smelt faintly of chlorine. Tifa found herself suddenly flustered in his presence.

"Uh, yeah, I – "

"It's the second date," Axel chattered over her. "With old Leo –"

"It's tomorrow?" Cloud interjected, shutting Axel up.

"Yeah," Tifa replied, a little defensively.

Cloud clenched his jaw, his gaze turning stony. "Obviously you've forgotten our usual." With that he walked away stiffly.

"Oh geez," Tifa groaned, smacking her head into her open palm.

"Come again?" Axel asked, confused.

"Cloud and I bake on Thursdays. Every Thursday. And I forgot about it. Maybe I should cancel with Leonhart –"

"Nooooo," Axel said, grabbing her wrist, still looking at Cloud's retreating back, an amused smile dawning on his face. "You're going no where. Let's see how this pans out."

Before Tifa could protest, the hockey team suddenly materialised around them, and Tifa remembered she had to try out Roxas. She gave a grim smile. Oh, she would push them all hard today.

* * *

"Great practice guys!" Tifa concluded at the end of their hour and a half training. "We're gonna kick ass on Saturday!" She smiled encouragingly at her team, who started determinedly back at her. She could feel now that her team was complete, that they could take on everyone and couldn't lose.

She dismissed her team, and they walked to their separate locker rooms, energetically discussing tactics and fitness training as they went.

"Roxas," Tifa called the blond back. "You played well today," she told him when the rest of the team had gone inside. "I want you on the team. Centre link with Kairi and Sora on Saturday. You've been what I've been looking for, for a long time, Roxas." Roxas smiled, incredibly chuffed with himself that not only did he make the team, he would be playing on Saturday _and _the team captain was impressed with him. "We've got a lot riding on this match, so don't mess up." She laughed and clapped her hand on his shoulder. "No pressure, hey?"

"No pressure," Roxas echoed, feeling like he was encased in a rock-like tomb thousands of kilometres below the surface, but he was smiling excitedly nonetheless.

He walked into the change rooms, peeling off his damp shirt in the process, revealing a faint outline of muscle.

"So?" Sora asked expectantly, bounding up to his cousin. "What did she say?"

"I'm in!" Roxas said, with a huge grin.

"And?"

"I'm playing on Saturday. Centre-link!"

"Yes!" Sora jumped for joy. "Damn skippy! I told you she would take you in! I _told _you!"

But the moments of euphoria ended as jeering and laughing came from the opposite end of the locker room. Sora groaned loudly as the water polo team strutted in: some had their embroidered robes, some walked in with towels around their waists and others were just in their 'speedos', determined to show off every inch of their muscle to the rest of the locker room. It was impressive, but it was also a major turn off. Seifer, however, where one of those.

He was also the loudest, cockiest of the lot. And when his eyes befell on the eye-rolling hockey team, his sneer turned into a menacing smirk.

"Well, well, well," He sneered, leaning on a locker opposite the hockey team. "Isn't it the Rat Balls." The rest of the water polo team laughed and jeered. Roxas spied Riku having his broad back turned on the whole scene, not making a sound.

Sora, however, balled his hands into fists. "Shut it, Seifer," he said quietly.

"Oooh, I'm so scared!" Seifer jeered, as the rest of the team backed him up menacingly. "With those spindly arms, I don't think you can even pick up that sorry excuse of a _twig_ you play with." He nodded at Sora's hockey gear behind the brunette.

"Hockey isn't as easy as you think," Roxas bravely said, stepping next to his cousin.

Seifer narrowed his eyes, not forgetting their last encounter. "Hockey is like golf," he spat. "You hit the fucking ball, and that's it."

Now all the hockey players roared in protest but the water polo team just jeered back. All except Riku, who had his jeans on at this point.

"It's a challenge then!" Sora shouted over the din. The locker room plunged into silence as they realised what he said. "Next week, Friday night. A _hockey_ match between our teams, under the lights."

"You're on!" Seifer roared in response. The locker room erupted into cacophony again.

"What's going on here?" Tifa was at the door, looking alarmed in an over-sized t-shirt that might have once belonged to Cid, her hockey shorts, and her long, damp hair combed out and loose over her shoulders. "What was with the noise?"

Sora turned to his captain, his eyes shining with determination. "We're playing against each other on Friday night. A hockey match," he stated.

"Are you crazy?" Tifa exclaimed.

"I think it's a good idea," said a soft voice behind her. "I think it'll build up team spirit." Tifa smelled musk. She knew that smell. She slowly turned around. A broad, shirtless chest rose in front of her, a cross scar on his right shoulder she noticed in particular. Her eyes rose to the damp brunette hair on his shoulders, the strong jaw, the straight nose, his stormy grey eyes.

Leonhart.

He was so close; she could feel his body heat emanating from him.

"Make sure you rally the school for it, and that you make sure that the Headmaster knows about it," he added, his eyes looking pointedly at her. Tifa couldn't say a word. He turned to walk away, and she couldn't the stop the warmth spreading south as she saw he was wearing his exceptionally tight leather pants.

Someone squeezed past her. She shook her head from her wandering imagination to focus on the silver-haired teen walking outside, his jaw and fist clenched so tightly that she thought they would break.

* * *

**Firstly, I asked my friend who speaks French to give me something really horrible to instigate a fight. And I forgot what it means, but there it is. If someone is bold to correct, please do. **

**And, yeah Riku is upset, but I think you find out later in the next chapter. I kinda have to dig around to find out what happens next...hmmm.**

**Anyway, I'll try not to be so long with the next chapter, I think it's all done and dusted, and I pray I haven't left stuff out. Please let me know what you think about it:). **

**Signing off:**

**Caneater.**


	6. Tension

**Yay! another chapter up. I'm on a roll. Yeah, I did work out what was next, hooray. There is a little bit of TifaSquall goodness, but not a lot. It was going to be full blown lemon, but I thought it would be better this way. **

**Playing Assassin's Creed on the PSP (Bloodlines), and I must say that PSP games are particularly short, unfortunately, but I'm enjoying it a lot. I REALLY want Birth by Sleep, but it's actually quite expensive, but hey. I shall bravely wait (and save up what I can!)**

**Rated M for swearing and stuff.**

**Oh, and I haven't added a disclaimer. Well, you should know by now that I don't own Kingdom Hearts (shock horror), otherwise Axel would have more screen time and he would've been a playable character (wouldn't that be cool?).**

**

* * *

**

Roxas took his usual route past the music department home. He always found that someone was always playing something, and it soothed him. But today, he heard nothing. Roxas frowned, disconcerted. And then, like a phantom, a voice rose from the main hall. Roxas stopped and cocked his ear in interest. This definitely wasn't Cloud's voice. It was deeper, clearer, and it was singing jazz; and playing something that sounded vaguely like a double bass.

Curious, Roxas re-traced his steps and leaned on the doorjamb of the hall, and watched with surprise and wonder. There was Axel on the stage, a double bass leaning on his bony shoulder, his eyes closed and he was singing. His nimble fingers on the fingerboard and plucking the strings transfixed Roxas. Roxas knew nothing of Axel's double bass or even that he played a musical instrument.

Roxas also knew this song.

"_Have you got it in you?_" Axel's smooth tenor voice reverberated around the hall, followed by a chord that sent electric currents through Roxas' veins. He bit his lip and closed his eyes, letting the music still his heart and flow through his mind. He knew this next part and he unknowingly started harmonising with Axel:

"_Blue blue day make me blue..._

_Head down, quick! Take cover,_

_Big girl in a mood._

_Blue you, make me any more blue?_

_Long spin shout power clean right out of your suit."_

The music stopped. Both boys' eyes snapped open as they realised what happened. They looked at each other in stunned silence.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Axel growled, clutching his double bass protectively.

"I – I..." Roxas stuttered, knowing that he walked into something personal.

"Get out."

Roxas' eyes widened, clutched his satchel and sped from the hall.

They were on the beach. They arrived in Riku's car about an hour and a half ago, a blanket lain on the sand. Kairi and Riku were dancing. Their hands were clasped, Riku's other hand on Kairi's back, Kairi resting hers on Riku's muscular shoulder. The sky was clear; the air was warm, the sound of the ocean pulling back and forth calming.

Kairi rested her head on Riku's shoulder, and he laid his cheek on top of her soft red hair.

"_Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,_

_Save it for a rainy day_,"

Riku sang softly as they revolved around the spot.

"_Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,_

_Never let it fade away_."

Then, Riku's mind unexpectedly turned to Sora, imagining the two of them sitting on the blanket, gazing at the stars, their hands barely touching. He snapped back to reality, and his stomach dropped. He was with Kairi now, but why would he rather be with Sora? Did this mean he was gay?

"I never knew you could sing," Kairi murmured into Riku's neck, dragging the silver head out of his thought.

He took a while to answer. "I tried out once for Children of the Key - you know, the band that Cloud and them have at school - when they were looking for a new singer. But Cloud has a voice that could charm angels."

What was he saying? Sure, Cloud has a remarkable, hell, even sexy voice, and he was perfect rockstar material: attractive, mysterious, sexy, enigmatic on stage...stop, Riku. This isn't what you normally think. What's going on?

"That's a funny way of putting it," Kairi giggled.

Riku softly pulled Kairi away from him, looking at her from arms length. She was very pretty, but his heart didn't even buzz when he looked at her. Despite that he said, "Well, I'm a funny guy." And kissed her. "Now, I have to get you home, Kai. Don't want your parent lashing out at me."

They packed up the blanket and they got into Riku's extremely expensive-looking, metallic sky blue car. He drove Kairi home, walked her on the door, planted a kiss goodnight and then drove away. Everything a perfect boyfriend was meant to do. But it didn't make Riku feel happy.

He added more weight to the acceleration, desperate to get to the place where he took out all his frustration, the place where he could think. In shorter time than he realised, Riku's headlights illuminated the racetrack. His father's racetrack.

Riku unlocked the gates and drove to the start line. He listened to the purr of his unique engine, his fingers tapping the steering wheel in thought, his stereo quiet and black. Then, another set of headlights appeared at the gates and stopped parallel to Riku. Windows opened. It was Axel.

"Nice car," Riku commented, noticing the sleek lines on his best friend's car, the familiar badge. "Where'd you get it?"

"I'll tell you later. Let's just drive." Axel sound as agitated as Riku would've been. Riku nodded, turned up his window. He leaned forward and switched on his stereo, bathing the inside of the car in neon baby blue light. Riku inserted a CD of Rock Classics that had been a favourite of his father's, and thus gave it to his son as a present with the car. Riku skipped to track 5. Strutter by KISS. He pumped the stereo up, and revved his engine.

Within seconds, the two were off, pushing their cars to speeds they could never achieve on the highway. The only thing that kept them from crashing into each other was their reflexes, built from since they started driving on the racetrack. They knew this track backwards by now.

After a couple of hours of hardcore driving, the two teens pulled up in the pit stop and climbed out of their very expensive and fast cars. Riku left his stereo on and leaned on the bonnet of his sky-blue car, Axel joining him seconds after.

"So what's the matter, dude?" Axel asked after crossing his arms and looking at Riku, scrutinizing.

Riku leaned back on his hands, looking up to star-filled sky, his silver hair shimmering in the barely lit area. He took a while to answer, while marveling at the amount of time that the two had known each other.

"When did you realise you were gay?" Riku asked.

Axel raised his eyebrows and turned his also turned his gaze to the sky. "I was sixteen," Axel replied, his eyes becoming unfocussed. "I knew the guy only for a few weeks 'cos he was new." Riku's brow wrinkled as he tried to guess who, but he kept silent. "Even though he was a few years younger, he played my heart like the strings of his fucking guitar." Axel laughed quietly. "I didn't get how I got that reaction from him, but all I knew was that I really, really liked him." He sighed nostalgically. "Since Dem, I've never really looked back." Ah, Demyx, Riku thought wryly. I shoulda known. "He was my first kiss, ya know."

Riku shot Axel a I-bloody-well-know-your-first-kiss-was-with-a-teacher-when-you-were-thirteen-I-was-there!- look. Axel winced and held his hands up in defence. "With a guy, Reeks, with a guy!"

Riku rolled his eyes and went back to surveying the stars. He narrowed his eyes as he let the silence stretch between them. Unusual.

"So what's up with you then?" Riku asked, cocking an eyebrow, not looking at Axel. Axel smiled faintly. Riku gave him a side-ways look. "I know you're putting that up for show, Axe. Tell me what's wrong."

Axel ran his long fingers through his hair. "You know me that well, eh?" Riku said nothing. "Roxas saw me with Bessie," Axel eventually said quietly.

Riku's eyes widened and he looked at his best friend. "What were doing with her?"

"I was playing her. Upright."

"Upright."

"Without a bow."

"Jazz?"

"Yep." A pause. "I was singing too."

"Ah shit," Riku swore, shaking his head. "What did you do?"

Axel sighed. "Got defensive. Was a real arse. Told him to get out. No one seen me with her since -"

"Yeah, I know," Riku said quietly. Both of the boys didn't want to get into that. "I told you. You can't hide her forever."

"I know, I know, it's just -" He sighed distractedly and looked at Riku with panic rising in his eyes. "I'm scared he's got me all figured out, that he knows all my secrets, that he's supposed to. He already knows about Bessie now, then he's gonna find out the whole story -"

"He won't find out," Riku said quietly. He smiled. "I'm sure Roxas knows when to keep his nose outta trouble when he sees it."

"Thing is," Axel said, shifting his weight. "I actually want Roxas to know everything, ya know?" His voice broke slightly. "There's something about him that just makes me wanna spill my guts to him. Something about him makes me feel -"

"Different?"

"Yeah." Axel looked away. "How'd you know?"

Riku sighed slightly, his mask back on. "I guess it's the same with his cousin."

Axel's jaw dropped. "So _that's_ why you asked the gay question!"

Riku nodded. After a while he said, "He's everything unexpected, and if he was a girl I totally wouldn't go for him." Axel gave him a look. Riku brushed it off. "I dunno. It's really confusing. And I have no idea what to do with Kairi."

"Play the bad guy card," Axel said with a shrug.

Riku looked at Axel, eyebrows raised. "Should I?"

Axel nodded and looked at the stars again. "Hell, it's better than being unhappy, Reeks. That's the worst I think. Besides," he glanced at Riku with an evil smile, "you're sexy when you play the bad guy."

Riku laughed for the first time that evening. Then he looked over at Axel's Ferrari with a keen eye. "So you gonna tell me about the car?"

"Somethin' my dad left me before he passed away," Axel said, emotion non-existant in his voice. "And yours? Looks pretty new. Your motorbike getting old?" He smirked.

"Somethin' my dad made for me for my seventeenth. Came with the CD." He jerked his head towards the stereo, strains of ACDC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" coming from the speakers. "You know he owns his own car firm. Yeah, made this especially for me. Only one in the world. Calls it Shiva."

Axel raised his eyebrows and turned to look at the said car, his eyes lighting up. "Wanna swop?"

Riku smirked. "Bet yours won't drive as good as mine."

Axel shrugged. "Probably not, but mine's got speed." He dug out the keys for his Ferrari and gave it Riku's open palm. Riku walked into Axel's car and switched the car on.

"Hey, where are my keys?" Axel cried with a pout.

Riku laughed. "They don't have keys." He waved his hand. "Works on fingerprint recognition."

"But that's not fair!" Axel exclaimed.

Riku smirked and said, "Listen, I'll take you for a ride in my car after a few laps in this baby."

Riku didn't even get ten meters until the engine died. "Whoops, forgot to fill her up," Axel said, pulling a face.

Riku rolled his eyes and got out. "You can leave her here. I can drive you home."

It was dawn when they left the racetrack. Riku dropped Axel off at home. As he pulled out of the red head's driveway, he said to the call centre, "Contact, call Sora."

"Calling," replied a cool female voice.

The phone rang three times before answering.

"Hello?"

Riku could already feel happiness spreading inside him like yellow sunshine, a secret smile creeping on his face.

"Hello? Is there anyone there?"

_Oh geez_, Riku panicked. "Hey, squirt, it's Riku."

"Oh, hey Reeks!"

"You fully awake?"

"Sure I am," came Sora's energetic reply.

Riku chuckled. "How about some Sunday brunch at Thirteen? My treat."

There was a pause. Riku could just imagine Sora frowning in thought, biting his lip softly in thought. "What about Kairi?"

"We had a late night last night," Riku said, his hands clenching his steering wheel tightly. "I'm sure she wants to sleep in and do family stuff."

"Okay, sure, I'll come round then." Riku could hear the teen was smiling. "When do I meet you?"

"I'll pick you up at twelve, kay?"

"Sure! Thanks Reeks!"

Riku hung up after they bid their farewells and sighed heavily. He decided a shower and a light nap before school would be perfect.

Tifa walked out the headmaster's office that morning, looking rather pleased with herself.

"What's the verdict?" Roxas asked eagerly, the rest of the hockey team behind him, waiting for her answer with bated breath.

"It's on!" she exclaimed and the rest of the team cheered.

"I can start making posters," Namine said excitedly from next to Roxas. She was never officially part of the hockey team, but she often helped Tifa organise events and various projects around Radient Garden. Over the past few weeks she got to know Roxas extremely well due to the amount of time spent with each other. She even knew about Roxas starting play the saxophone – which he has not spoken to anyone else about since he hired it out a few days back. People saw her often with Roxas – either alone or with Axel and Sora.

Kairi never complained about her twin sister's absence. She was spending all the time she could with Riku, although quite aways from the water polo team, preferably out of sight. They never talk about the upcoming match, or about hockey at all. And when Riku wasn't with Kairi, he was with Sora. Since Riku had started his hockey training with the water polo team, most of the boys' conversation rotated around the subject of hockey, and were even seen passing each other a ball in between hockey practices.

The water polo team, however, have been holding extra practices on the Astro-turf for the up-coming match on Friday. However, one of the rules set by the Headmaster was that none of teams could observe each others' training. So the opposite teams would hold either Riku or Kairi in low regard, and were constantly interrogated by their own teams.

Tifa once went as far as nearly taking Kairi off the team for Firday night. At which Sora protested furiously, "But where will the team get their spirit from?" Kairi was often the unofficial cheerleader of the hockey team, and always made sure, alongside Tifa, that the morale and spirit was always kept high. "If you take Kairi Out, then there's no way we can break through their defence!"

Tifa had to admit that Sora was right, but didn't like the way he had to tell Tifa this, so she ordered him to do suicides along the length of the field until she felt better about it. But she didn't, because on her second date with Leonhart when he dropped her off at home, he climbed out after her.

At the door, Tifa turned to face him. His expression was unreadable and she wasn't sure exactly what he wanted. But he stepped closer to her, so that they were almost touching. Before she could say anything, he took her chin, tilted it up, and kissed her.

His lips weren't soft, but rather rough and searching, and his stubble of the day prickled her skin. Nevertheless, Tifa responded, as she couldn't resist the smell of musk enveloping her senses for the sencond time that week. He drew away and said, "Have dinner with me tomorrow night."

Tifa's chest constricted slightly, and didn't know what to say. Eventually she strained out, "Sure."

He gave her a faint smile and a chaste kiss before returning to the car and driving away.

The next evening passed quickly. They ate at a quiet restaurant who were famous for their pasta and paoupu, wine. Afterwards, Leonhart offered Tifa coffee at his apartment about 10 minutes away. In the car, watching the lights go past, she thought of what Axel said to her Wednesday afternoon. _Third date…_Was this is right decision?

Leonhart's apartment was small – just a small kitchen, a lounge and a closed door, which Tifa presumed was Leonhart's bedroom. She quietly followed him into the kitchen after she complimented him about the bathroom.

"You, you don't get much on a teacher's salary," Leonhart commented, taking two cups from a cupboard. "But it's good enough for one person." He switched the kettle on. She turned to examine the granite counter, her calloused, scarred hands feeling the cold hard surface. She examined the tiled walls, the structure of the cuborad overhead, the curious row of angelic figurines all engraved with the mysterious name: _Rinoa._

But before she could investigate further, the strong smell of musk enveloped her once again. She turned slowly. Leonhart was right behind her, closer that usual, reaching out to the cupboard behind her.

"What are you doing?" Tifa whispered, her veins pumping full of electricity.

"I want to get the sugar behind you," he replied quietly.

"Let me – "

"No, I have it." But he didn't move after that. He just stared at Tifa with such intensity, she couldn't bear to take her eyes off him.

And, as if someone flipped a switch, Tifa took Leonhart's face between her hands and drew him to her, crushing her lips on his. Immediately, Leonhart's arms enveloped Tifa and lifted her up on to the counter. He stepped in between her legs, only parting their lips for desperate gasps of air. There was a dominance struggle with their tongues, desperate to get closer to each other. Leonhart's hands went underneath Tifa's shirt, his soft hands needful and explorant. His mouth broke away and started at her neck. Tifa's hands pulled at his shirt, her breathe getting shorter and her heart was racing.

"Cloud!" she gasped as he found a sensitive spot on her collarbone. And then, with a cold realisation that spread uncomfortably through her, she realised what she had done. Yet again, she was under Leonhart's penetrating stare.

"You're in love with him, aren't you?" he asked her softly. Tifa averted her eyes, staring instead at the ground, feeling ashamed. "So, why did you say yes to me?"

"I don't know," she muttered, shaking her head. "I don't know about any of this." She took a deep breath and swalled nervously, the silence uncomfortable. She jumped down from the counter; Leonhart stepped politely back. "I have to go."

"It's dark," he said. "Can I rather give you a lift?"

"Don't worry about it." She reached into her pockets and pulled out her black fingerless gloves – her present from Cloud a few weeks back – the silver embroidery of _Tifa Lockheart_ flashing in the light. "I got protection right here," she said, flexing her hands as she put them on.

Personally, she was glad that nothing got any further with Leonhart, and she shivered at the prospect that it very nearly got very far. She was also glad she had two school-free days to think about thinks and to get over it, but she still found it extremely awkward in History class: being lectured by an expressionless Leonhart, and sitting next to a cold Cloud – who was still upset about last Thursday; at least he knew nothing about the happenings of Friday night.

Plus the extra training sessions and the sparking tension between the water polo and hockey teams didn't help matters either. Tifa, intead, immersed herself in rallying the school's support for Friday night and keeping her team morale high, whilst keeping her distance from both Leonhart and Cloud.

Relating to tension within the group, Roxas and Axel have barely talked since Roxas walked in on Axel plaing his double bass, Bessie. Neither of the pair knew why they were angry with another, but everyone knew that both were stubborn enough to admit they were wrong, or even confront each other about the matter.

Both Axel and Demyx were throwing their support behind the hockey team, however, as well as Namine, although Demyx only half-knew what was going on on the other side of his headphones.

Roxas was throwing all his time into hockey practice. If it wasn't on the Astro-turf, it was on the playground tarmac or in his bacj garden. Sora came often to practice with him and go over a few manuovers with him that Sora and Kairi have perfected over the years. Although the match on Saturday was a success, there was still a lot that Roxas didn't know, and at the moment, hockey took his mind off of everything else. Including his saxophone. Another reason for this was that he feared that if he ever picked it up again, he would lose the ability to play and lose his touch. He had yet to call about lessons.

The whole school was buzzing with excitement towards the end of the week. There was not anyone in the school who did not know about what would happen on Friday night, and even though the hockey players were playing their own game, most reckoned that the water polo team would give them a run for their money. Spirits were high, the air was tense and the pressure was heavy on the two teams ready to take it on underneath the lights on Friday night.

* * *

**Bwahahaha! Yes, the match will come up in the next chapter. It'll be VERY dramatic and traumatic, and you can now see the awesome Headmaster again! **

**Oh, and the song that Axel and Roxas were singing was "Have You Got It In You?" by Imogen Heap. I thought of a jazz version of it one night, and Axel and his double bass went and formulated in my head, and the rest came afterwards!**

**As for Children of the Key, you will be introduced to them soon in later chapters :). **

**Other songs such as "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Strutter" I don't own either. **

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will update as soon as I've written the whole thing out (which shouldn't take long: I've had this idea for a while!).**

**Signing off:**

**Caneater. **


	7. A middle, an end, and a beginning

**Hello my friends, we meet again! I'm so sorry about the delay. We moved house, and then there were lots of university things to sort out, and huge steps in terms of love life. I finally had a free afternoon to piece this chapter together and finally write it down. Below is the all expectant hockey match, a break up, and a new relationship. (sorry, for Roxas and Axel fans. Your time will come in the future sometime.). Hopefully when I get in the swing of things at university, I will have a schedule set up so I can update more regularly. **

**So sorry for making you guys wait, again. Free cookies to all returning readers :). **

**Rated M for swearing and violence. I do not own Disney or Square Enix, I only enjoy what they make :). Enjoy!**

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Friday night finally arrived. The school had gathered around the stands, that had been put up next to the Astro-Turf specifically for the event, talking and laughing excitedly, taking bets and debating who would win the match. The sun was almost down and the spotlights had been switched on to illuminate the players warming up. The air was humid from the extremely hot day, and massive grey clouds were looming overhead. The mascots were in front of the stands, keeping the crowd's spirits high: Hercules for the hockey team (otherwise known as the Heroes) and King Triton for the water polo team (also known as the Atlanteans.).

Roxas, Sora – the star player for the Heroes – and Kairi were on the Astro, doing drills and warming up. "It's better to play under the lights," Sora was saying to Roxas. "That way, it's easier to mark your man." The brunette nodded at Roxas' four shadows surrounding him.

"It can be both an advantage and a disadvantage," Kairi continued. "So watch your back." Roxas nodded.

Tifa approached the trio, wearing her captain's shirt and her gloves from Cloud. "The game's about to start, guys," she told them seriously. "It's time."

The hockey team won the coin toss – tails – and the crowd cheered in expectation, the excitement rising to a fever pitch.

The whistle blew.

It had begun.

"Keep the defense tight," Tifa told them before the match. "Wait 'til you spot a hole in their formation and then go for it. Play hard to get. We don't need to let in unnecessary goals."

Roas kept this in mind as he received the ball from Sora. As he dribbled it, he watched the other team in front of him. Seifer was dogging Roxas' every step, but Roxas wasn't letting him to get an inch of advantage. Roxas was glad that Rai and Fuu weren't with Seifer in the front line – they were playing defense – so he could avoid any kind of violence on the field.

Suddenly, Seifer rushed Roxas, the short blonde passed it back to Sora and ran into Seifer's empty space. "Sora!" Roxas cried and his cousin immediately passed it back to him before Sora and Kairi started the push forward. The spectators supporting the Heroes gave a shout of approval. But the water polo defense was rather decent, and the forwards had trouble getting through. But they didn't let down their advantage, staying in the Atlanteans' territory as long as they could.

Until, one of the defense broke their cool and rushed Kairi. She passed it to Sora, took the spot and she received the ball back from him. The crowd started cheering heartily as a goal was so close to being scored. Kairi dodged another defender and passed it to Sora, who passed to to Roxas, who was in the perfect position to score.

Then everything seemed to slow down. Roxas' breathing was unnaturally loud, as was his heartbeat. He looked up and saw the crowd cheering his name, gathering a loud chant for support. Sweat dripped down his arms from the hot and humid air and the hard exercise. The clouds billowed overhead dangerously.

"Shoot, Roxas!" Sora shouted from the middle of the D, drawing Roxas back into real time. He adjusted his grip, took his aim and smacked the ball as hard as he could into the goal box. It went right past the goalkeeper and landed with a loud _thud_ behind him.

The stands erupted into screams and roars. The Heroes ran to Roxas and enveloped him into a giant bear hug, squeezing whatever air was left in his lungs. He never felt so exhilarated in his life. The reaction was way bigger than any thing he had ever imagined, as this was his first goal of the season – no, his first goal _ever._ It was ten times better than scoring a goal for water polo or winning the big race in swimming.

But as the team around him ran back to their positions, Roxas felt the very wind knock out of him and he dropped down to his knees, not feeling the Astro-Turf graze his knees. Black stars pin-pricked his vision as he slumped on the hard surface. He briefly glimpsed a tall blond teen walking away from him.

It seemed only a few seconds until he saw Tifa hovering over him, her hair sticking to her sweaty face, as it came out of her usual loose ponytail. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly as Roxas was lifted on to a stetcher and off the field. On the way, Roxas saw Kairi and Sora having a heated conversation with the referee, who was looking defiant and slightly annoyed.

Tifa tucked her hair behind her ear and blew out her cheeks. Sure, Roxas scored an amazing goal, but Tifa had forgotten about Seifer's temper on and off the field. She would have to keep an eye on him. She found the reason why Sora and Kairi were arguing with the referee: he gave Seifer a yellow card (**A/N: a player that's awarded yellow card gets sent off the field for 10 minutes or so.**). Tifa strongly felt that a red card should have been more appropriate purely because Seifer injured Roxas while not in play. But soon after the referee gave Seifer his yellow card, he awarded Kairi and Sora each a green card (**A/N: a green card is a warning. Two green cards and it's a yellow I think**).

Tifa watched Seifer return to the benches, where she caught sight of Leonhart. He was silently standing on the sidelines, occasionally shouting encouragement to the Atlanteans. Tifa's stomach churned slightly as it had for the past few days since last Friday night, but she shook her head and focused on the game. She sent in a third year – same year as Riku and Seifer – to replace Roxas and ensured that Kairi and Sora had resumed their positions without further incident. Tifa knew that Roxas might be out for a few games, but the extent of his injury was unknown, so she hoped that it wasn't too dire and she could have her team back soon.

But when the referee allowed the game to resume, Kairi and Sora were so upset and unfocused, they let the Atlanteans in, putting all the weight on the defenders, and soon enough, with Riku in control on the ball, he scored a goal, and the Atlantean supporters cheered wildly. Tifa rounded on her two forwards in seconds.

"Focus!" she hissed at them. "I _will _not lose to this game, certainly not to these guys!"

"But Tifa!" Sora protested, wide-eyed. "Did you see what the - "

"Of course I did," Tifa said, seething. "But you _have_ to keep your focus! You _both_ have green cards. Make sure you don't get another one, otherwise you will know pain like you never have before."

Tifa could be very scary when she wanted to, especially when she really wanted to get her point across. Kairi and Sora nodded , pale-faced, and returned to their positions. There afterwards, the Heroes kept playing the defensive, as the water polo team had now grown confident after scoring their own goal. But when Seifer came back with his time-out, Tifa gave the signal to commence a more offensive attack as the Atlanteans got used to their usual formation. Kairi served to be a wonderful assist, passing the ball to Sora when he was in the perfect position to score.

The referee blew his whistle. "Now what?" Sora exclaimed angrily, now obviously quite annoyed with the referee as well as how the game had turned out so far. The referee pointed to his watch and then to the score board. The score was one all and it was half time. With a cry of frustration, Sora ineffectually slammed the ball into the goal box before he stormed off to join his team on the benches.

"Let me back on," Roxas was pleading to Tifa. "I'm fine now, I can run and everything."

Tifa pulled off her gloves as she sat down and reached for her water bottle. "No," the captain said firmly. "The paramedics told me that you have cracked ribs, and I can't risk having you on the field while Seifer is still playing."

"But -"

"_No_, Roxas. We need you on our team for the season, not recuperating from some head injury." With that, the conversation was over. She swallowed down half the water in her bottle in a few big gulps. She turned to her team, "Okay guys, I know it's equal now, but this is our game. This is our 'Turf! We're not gonna let them win, not this time." She looked up at the huge clouds overhead as drizzle descended upon the Astro. "And I'm sure we can use this rain to our advantage. I know we don't have Roxas anymore, but we still have our star forwards!" She nodded to Kairi and Sora. "So we're gonna push 'em. We gotta win this. But don't be reckless. They're still a decent team."

The team nodded and Kairi took over for a spirit session, using her hockey stick as a conductor stick to keep the crowd and the team in high spirits, despite the rain. Multi-coloured dots appeared among the crowd as umbrellas were opened. Despite the drizzle, Tifa poured water on his shirt, pooling some in her hand so she could drag it through her hair.

A few wolf whistles came from the crowd. Tifa turned to see the water polo across the Astro taking off their shirts and flexing their muscles in the rain, earning some cheers and whoops in the crowd as they admired their well-toned muscles and sleek bodies. Seifer looked straight at Tifa and gave her his best sneer. Tifa rolled her eyes, gave him the finger and turned back to her team.

"All right, team. Let's kick these sons of bitches to the Underworld and back!" She stuck in her fist in the circle, and the team piled their fists on hers. On three they cried, "Hero time!" and ran out to the field; the crowd growing ballistic with expectation and excitement. The Atlanteans' still had their shirts off and their bodies glistened in the rain as they ran out on to the Astro.

The referee blew his whistle once again.

Completely focused and hyped now, the hockey had set for the offensive. Within seconds, the forwards tore through the defence and Sora scored the second goal for the Heroes. He grinned proudly as the crowd cheered and his team hugged him and patted him on his back. He fist pumped Kairi, his grin growing wider. He caught Riku's eye, the silverette's hair shining spectacularly in the spotlights. Sora smiled and winked at his friend before running back with his team to his position.

"Come on," Tifa growled from the defense. "Just keep 'em coming, or just defend it. We gotta win this." She repeated this like a chant, like some kind of a mantra. She kept seeing Leonhart from the corner of her eye.

Sora had the ball now, going one on one with Riku. Even though this was a serious match, Riku and Sora spent a copious amount of time with each other, and Sora now considered Riku as a friend. He executed a complicated manuvre that forced Riku to move around Sora constantly, but Sora ran out, victorious, laughing at his show of cunning. But as his concentration left the ball, it was easily stolen from him by Tidus. In seconds, the water polo team were streaking down the other end of the Astro.

"Hey!" Sora called after him, running as fast as he could in Tidus' wake. Tifa's defense line tried to stave the Atlanteans off the goal, but Seifer soon found a hole, passed the ball to Tidus – only because Tifa had cornered him off, unable to shoot a goal. Tidus got in a lucky shot, but it was a goal nonetheless, and the crowd screamed in mirth. Tifa swore loudly, although saving her lecture for Sora for later.

Now, however, the Atlantean's defense was so tight that not even Kairi could see a hole in it. Tifa narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Were they intending to keep the score equal or were they waiting for something? Tifa stole another glance at Leonhart as if he provided the answer. She growled, "Come on."

The rain was soaking the teams now and the Turf became dangerously slippery as more than one accident occurred and many Astro-burns accumulated on both sides. Tifa checked the time nervously. Two minutes left. _Come on! When? When can we strike?_

The referee's whistle blew once again.

Short corner.

"Yes!" Tifa shouted exuberantly. She jogged confidently to the opposition's back line, tapping Kairi and Sora on their shoulders and grinning broadly at them. The trio knew exactly what to do. As Tifa waited for the ball, she stood at the back line, shaking any strands that fell in her face. She took a deep breath, taking in the scene. The school had now all stood up at this crucial moment of the game, the rain now coming down with purpose on the grounds.

But only one person stood out in the crowd for Tifa. His blond spikes were slightly wilted from the rain and the humidity, his unnaturally blue eyes glinted from beneath his navy blue umbrella. Tifa always thought they were infused with magic or something, but they always kept her guessing. She thought it was what she liked most about Cloud.

Her gaze drew her back to the game, finding her team in position and the ball in front of her. The whistle blew. She leaned on to her back foot in a kind of a low lunge before pushing the ball as hard as she could, keeping low on the ground. The defense rushed forward from the goal box as the ball came for Kairi. She stopped it with a firm tap, and hit it to Sora: unmarked and positioned slightly on the side of the D.

The defense took a double take, confused about the turn of events. But that was all the time that Sora needed. He slammed the ball in to the box, the goalkeeper all but ducking as the ball took to the air, fitting neatly in to the top right corner before slumping behind the nets.

The stands erupted into chaos and Sora was hoisted on the shoulders of his team. He roared in triumph, his voice growing hoarse in the din. The euphoria was still in his chest, not making him able to get over it: he scored the all-important goal, at the last minute and he was the true hero of the match. Nothing could ever make him feel like this. When the team let him down, he felt his body was still floating ever higher to the sky.

When the team had settled slightly, Sora made his way to the Atlanteans, found Seifer and held out his hand. "Good game," Sora said with a genuine smile, his eyes bright under his soaked hair. Seifer kept his sneer, and didn't shake Sora's hand. The brunette held it out, still, as if in defiance.

He even heard Riku whisper, "Come on, man."

"No!" Seifer shouted suddenly. "I will NOT admit defeat, and certainly not to a snot-nosed kid like you!"

Sora checked his temper. He narrowed his eyes and withdrew his hand. "Fine," Sora said evenly. "I guess some people never change, even when they're given a second chance."

"Don't you fucking talk to me like that!" Seifer screamed. He flew at Sora, tackling the young boy to the ground, getting in some good punches on Sora's face. Then, Rai and Fuu pulled him back, a small crowd around them gathered at the hint of a fight. The Heroes turned to realise what was going on, and all thoughts of celebration was obliterated from their minds. It only took a few seconds until Tifa and Kairi ran at Seifer in rage. Riku, now with a grey shirt on, ran from his team and picked up Kairi, carrying her away from the scene. Cloud emerged from the crowd and looped his arms around Tifa's, restraining the hockey captain.

"Let me get him," Tifa snarled, trying to break free from Cloud's strong grip. "I got my gloves on, I'm not gonna hold back this time!" But Cloud silently kept his strong grip on Tifa, the hours of work in Cid's garage and swimming keeping her in her spot.

Seifer shouldered from Rai and Fuu's grip. He wiped the rain off his face and chuckled menacingly. He spat at Tifa's feet.

Roxas, meanwhile, has hunched over his cousin, with Namine and Axel on the other side of the brunette. "He's knocked cold," Axel murmured as he felt Sora's cold, wet forehead. Namine ran to the paramedics for help. But Roxas, was silent. He stood up, his hands in tight fists as he tried to control his rage. He walked to where Seifer stood, the fury in his eyes freezing the water polo player where he was.

"You think it's okay to beat me up, based on your fucked up perceptions of the society of this school," Roxas started, gritting his teeth. "You still _dare_ to hit me so hard so that you crack my fucking ribs in front of the whole school, even after my friends beat you up, _twice_. So far, I thought this was _slightly_ on the 'okay' side. But now," Roxas' voice grew dangerously soft at this point. "You hurt my cousin. Something you should know, Seifer. Family comes before everything. _Everything._" Roxas stepped closer to Seifer, who was growing paler by the second. "Oh, you're up Shit's Creek now."

With that, Roxas stalked away grimly, leaving Seifer incredibly pale, fear entering his eyes for the first time. Roxas stood over his cousin protectively as the paramedics swarmed over Sora, Namine was standing close to Roxas with a worried look on her face.

Within seconds, the principal was walking leisurely on to the Astro-Turf. Over his tweed suit, he wore a clear raincoat, with various Disney characters printed on it. Despite his blue Donald Duck umbrella he held above him, he still wore the hood of his Disney raincoat, with the ears of Mickey Mouse protruding from it.

"Good evening," the headmaster said formally, nodded to the two teams. "I must commend both teams for playing so well and gathering the school spirit in fantastical ways. Your perseverance through this unfortunate weather has indeed been noteworthy. However," the headmaster's face became serious. "An incident seems to have occurred here. What happened?"

It took a while for any one to step forward: no one had heard anyone the headmaster talk in such a way. He had always been so informal, friendly and jovial. Tifa was the first to compose herself. She gently shook Cloud's grip on her, trying to push out the feel of his wet calloused hands on her, the realisation that they were both wet and Tifa's heart started pumping ice cream. Nevertheless, she told the whole story to the headmaster somberly. Mr. Mouse's face grew graver as the story progressed.

"Seifer," he said when Tifa had concluded her story, "meet me in my office on Monday morning. Oh, and," he touched a passing paramedic on his arm, "keep me updated on Sora's status."

"Yes, sir," the paramedic responded in clipped tones.

"I think that will be all. Congratulations on your victory, Heroes," Mr. Mouse said to the sombre hockey team. "I hope the upcoming season proves to be as successful as your match tonight." Lightning flashed over the teams. "Oh, with that, I think we outta run on home!" the headmaster stated, returning to his usual jovial manner. "G'night folks!"

With that, the company moved somberly off the Astro.

Saturday morning dawned, still raining. Riku was awakened earlier than was intended. He was hoping to sleep in, when his sky-blue mobile was ringing.

_Hey, little darlin'._

_Your love is legendary._

_Love's four letter's ain't in my dictionary -_

He groaned as he reached for it and pressed the green button.

"Hello?" he said, cutting off Aerosmith's 'Walk on the Water.'

"Hey baby," Kairi's voice crooned on the other end.

"Oh, hey Kairi,' Riku replied, turning on his back to face the ceiling. Who else would he expect?

"How are you feeling after yesterday?"

"I'm fine." Which triggered something that Riku was thinking about most of the previous evening. "You know how Sora's doing?"

"Nope, not yet. But we're all going to go down to the hospital to see how he is doing."

Riku was up before Kairi could finish the sentence. "Yeah, I'll be there in five minutes," Riku said, opening his cupboard and standing in front of it in nothing but a pair of striped boxers.

"Awesome!" Kairi exclaimed in glee. "Pick me up on the way, baby?"

Riku paused for a moment. He hadn't really thought of that. After all, Kairi was his girlfriend. "Yeah, sure."

_Click_

Riku pulled on some faded and torn jeans, a light blue vest and his skater shoes. He grabbed his house keys, running down the stairs to the garage. But he was stopped at the kitchen. There, his uncle was sitting with a cup of coffee and the morning paper.

"What are you doing up this early?" Sephiroth asked him. "You usually have a late morning." He sipped his coffee.

Riku checked the kitchen clock. 8.30. Usually he would cringe at such an ungodly hour, but now it didn't seem to matter. "Um, Sora got injured after the match last night," Riku explained. "We're all going to go to the hospital and see him."

"Ah," Sephiroth said thoughtfully. "Yes, about that match last night..."

"Yeah?"

"That was quite a spectacular goal."

Riku grinned at his uncle in thanks before he tore to the garage and jumped in his unique silvery-blue car. As he let the car read his prints, a loud, ripping guitar solo that came from the very fingers of Matt Bellamy filled Riku's car. He pulled out the driveway, singing with the lead singer of Muse:

_And tonight, we can truly see,_

_Together we're invincible!_

Kairi, Namine and Riku arrived at the hospital last: Saturday morning traffic wasn't moving particularly fast.

They found Roxas pacing the waiting room impatiently, his face drawn into a dark, worried frown. Axel was having hushed conversation with Tifa on one end, whilst Cloud had plugged in his earphones to Demyx's iPod (**A/N: Sigh, I wish that were really possible)**, and both boys were listening silently on the other end of the room.

Roxas looked up upon their entry. "Oh, you guys are finally here," Axel said, standing up. Roxas silently went to Namine and hugged her, as if it was some kind of reassurance for him.

"Let's go," Cloud said, packing away his headphones and tapping Demyx's shoulder to follow suit.

They found Sora in the Ward, awake with a thick bandage around his head.

"Geez, they didn't get a head surgery, did ya?" Demyx exclaimed worriedly as he spotted the bandages.

Sora laughed. "It's just a concussion," he said. "I'm used to 'em by now."

"How are you feeling?" Riku asked the question that was burning inside him since he woke up.

"I'm fine!" Sora said, feeling flustered. "Just one bruise on my shin, a bit of Astro-burn. That's it."

"How long you out of sport?" Tifa asked.

"About three weeks," Sor replied, wincing. Kairi, Roxas and Tifa grimaced. "It's not _that_ long. I mean, it's not like it's the rest of the season, right?" Tifa smiled wanly in reply, appreciating Sora's optimism at this critical time. "Oh, yeah," Sora continued. "Roxas, how're your ribs?"

Roxas smiled affectionately at his cousin. Selfless Sora, always thinking of others before himself, and ever the optimistic one. "They hurt a bit," Roxas admitted, his hand going to his side. "I'm off sport too, same time as you. But I should be in great form soonish."

"Fantabulous!" Sora exclaimed now getting excited. "So how did the match end last night?"

The group fell silent as they looked at each other. "Don't you know?" Riku asked, dumbfounded.

"The last thing I remember is the whistle blown for the short corner."

Tifa blew out the air in her cheeks. "Sora! You scored the winning goal!" Axel exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Kairi jumped in excitedly. "It was amazing!" And she told the goal in detail as Sora's eye grew wider and wider as she went on.

"You must be exaggerating," Sora said breathlessly.

"He's not!" Tifa protested, smiling with pride. "You were brilliant. The best goal I've seen in years!"

Sora grimaced in regret. "I wish I remembered it."

Kairi put her hand on Sora's shoulder reassuringly. The brunette felt a little flustered as she said, "I'm sure you'll be able to remember it some day." She smiled affectionately at him.

"Oh, yeah, and Roxie gave Seifer quite a speech," Axel said enthusiastically, looking at Roxas. Roxas was mildly surprised: these were the first words that Axel spoke to Roxas since the walk-in on Axel's double bass playing.

"Yeah, I think you gave him a good ass-kicking," Kairi smiled, latching back onto Riku. "He's not gonna bug us for a while."

"I bloody well hope not," Roxas said darkly.

"Uuuh," Sora said, desperate to change to subject. "Hey, that was a great goal, Reeks!"

Riku felt internally flustered, although he kept his face frosty, as always. "That's only 'cos the best players were distracted."

The group laughed, all internal tensions breaking. It was much needed as the past two weeks brought pressure and fighting outside and within the group. This way, it brought them back together...for now.

"Are you considering playing for the team?" Tifa asked Riku hopefully. "As you can see, we're short on forwards and it would be amazing to have you on the team."

"I'm not sure," Riku admitted. "I really enjoy playing waterpolo, but Seifer's messing himself and the team really badly. But he's too good a player for Leonhart to let him go." At the mention of the history teacher's name, both Cloud and Tifa's faces turned dark.

"Nah, I think he's gonna be suspended for what he did to Roxas and Sora," Demyx said sagely from the foot of Sora's bed, one headphone on his ear.

"Damn skippy," Tifa growled.

At this point, the nurse in charge of Sora was getting flustered by all the visitors and chivvied the group out. All except one. Riku stayed on expressed permission of the nurse – who was now glowering by her desk. The silverette ignored the nurse's glare and stood by Sora's bedside. The brunette yawned widely.

"I guess the meds are kicking in again," Sora said sleepily. Riku smiled tenderly, brushing a few stray strands of hair from Sora's cerulean blue eyes. Now that he was alone with Sora, the only thing he could think of was the night before: the rain coming down in the second half and Sora showing off his skills, forcing Riku to skirt around him constantly, making contact constantly...chest on chest, hips, arms, both boys panting from exertion and adrenaline from the game. The mere thought of it made Riku shiver.

"Hey little man," he said to Sora – who's eyes were drooping heavily. "When they letting you out?"

"Tomorrow morning hopefully."

"You still wanna go out for brunch?"

"I totally forgot about that." Sora smiled, turned on his side and closed his eyes. "That would be great," he mumbled before falling asleep.

The group decided to go to Thirteen for milkshakes after visiting Sora. They were chatting loudly and laughing raucously, the pressure and tension now completely forgotten with the knowledge that the star player for the Heroes was now healthy and back to normal once more.

Riku, whose hands were intertwined with a glowing Kairi, couldn't help but think that tomorrow morning he would be alone with Sora in this exact place. All of this wasn't fair to Kairi. Even if Riku was the kind of guy that dates and dumps in a matter of days, he still cares a little about the girls' feelings. Only a little.

"Can I have a word?" he muttered in Kairi's ear.

"Outside?"

Riku nodded. The couple squeezed past the bantering group in the booth and meandered together towards the car park.

"What's up?" Kairi asked, looking up at him, looking blissfully happy. Riku bit his lip and thrust his free hand into his pocket. _How do I say this?_ Kairi watched him carefully, her smiled slowly fading. "You're breaking up with me, aren't you?" Riku opened his mouth to say something, but Kairi interrupted. "It's because of last night, isn't it?" she accused. "You lost, and you're embarrassed to be seen with me in public, is that it?"

Riku, horrified at her assumption, wanted to protest but bit back his retort, remembering what Axel said to him a few nights ago. "Yeah, you hit the nail," he replied in an awful voice. "I'm disgusted with you guys. I was with Seifer from the start. The _only _reason why I stopped you from hitting him so that you wouldn't embarrass me!"

Kairi looked up at Riku in disbelief, anger now lining her brow and her lips. "I don't believe this!" she exclaimed. "After all that, it was just to get into the pants of someone from the hockey team. And now we've actually won, you don't want anything to do with us!" At this, Riku frowned internally. This issue was mainly between her and Riku, and it was never about the hockey team in general: after all, he was the one who actually asked about Sora's condition that morning. And he sped through the city to get to the hospital on time. Riku waved it aside. Anything to make him look like the bad guy in the end.

He only half noticed Kairi stalk back into Thirteen, tears in her eyes, her hands curled into fists. Immediately, the group stopped conversing and asked about Kairi and Riku. Riku regretted ending the relationship this way, but this was the best thing to do in the end, he thought. He was very grateful that Sora wasn't there to witness this.

Riku climbed into his unique car and sped away, before the group got any ideas about beating him up. Smiling slightly, Riku called Axel as he pulled on to the highway.

"Hey, Axe, it's me, Reeks."

"Uhuh," Axel replied, probably trying to mask the caller's identity from the group at Thirteen.

"How's Kairi? Is she crying?"

"Nope."

Riku pulled a slight face as he changed lanes. "Is she gonna beat me up on Monday?"

"Probably."

"So I should stay clear for a few days?"

"Yes."

Riku thought a bit, and then said, "Should I get someone else to kind of compensate?"

"...Yeah."

"I'll check my list on contacts. Let's hope there's someone in the school that doesn't think I'm a dick."

"Mmhm."

"Okay, check ya later, Axe!"

Riku hung up and pressed on the accelerator a little more. As Axel put his phone away in his pocket, Demyx asked him who it was.

"Wrong number," Axel said with a small smile.

Sora came home the next morning, full of smiles and bundled energy. But all the time spent at the hospital made him incredibly lazy and the last thing he wanted to do was homework. He nevertheless slumped onto the couch as his mother closed the door behind them.

"Want some tea, honey?" Sora's mother asked him as she walked to the kitchen. Sora lazily accepted. Just as he got comfortable, the bell for the door rang. Frowning, Sora pushed himself from the couch, and opened the door. There stood Riku, in three quarter pants, a tight shirt and a half-smile.

"You didn't forget, did you?" Riku asked with a slight worried tone.

Sora put on an excited grin. "Of course I remembered!"

"Who's at the door, honey?" Sora's mother appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, holding Sora's tea in her hands.

"Oh, mom, this is Riku," Sora said hurriedly, blushing slightly. "He's gonna take me out to some brunch."

"Take care of him, okay Riku?" Sora's mother said with a smile. "He's just had a concussion, and he needs to take his pills after his food."

"Of course I will, uh.." Riku paused slightly as he tried to find a suitable name.

"It's alright, you can call me Mom," she answered with a motherly smile.

"Mom," Riku said with a smile, his voice cracking slightly.

"Okay!" Sora exclaimed, desperate to get out of the house at this point. "Thanks a lot, mom. We'll be leaving now!"

"You two have fun!" Sora's mother called after him. Sora closed the door behind them and he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Sorry about that," Sora said apologetically.

"Nah, it's alright," Riku said with a smile. "Most parents aren't that accepting with me for some reason."

"My mom isn't usually like that though," Sora said thoughtfully as he climbed into Riku's car.

"Really? Not everyone of your friends call her 'Mom'?" Riku asked, rather bemused.

"Well, Roxas obviously calls her Aunty, and Kairi just calls her the Mrs. But otherwise, other than me, no."

Riku raised his eyebrows in surprise, and it was only a while until Sora realised what kind of car it was.

"I had a great time, Riku," Sora said, smiling happily.

Riku beamed at Sora as he opened the car door for the brunette. "How's your head feeling?" Riku asked Sora worriedly as he walked Sora to his front door.

"It hurts a little. Nothing a good nap can't fix," Sora said brightly. Then he added, "The meds are starting to kick in, so that'll make it easier."

Riku laughed softly. "That's a relief. We wouldn't want you face down in your fries!"

"Yeah, they'll rush me to the hospital, just to find up it's tomato sauce on my face!" They both collapsed into laughter beyond speech.

"Have a fantastic nap, Sor," Riku said after they recovered.

"And you're gonna have an awesome day, Reeks!" Suddenly, Sora looked guilty. "Am I allowed to call you that?"

Riku smiled softly. "You can call me whatever you want."

Sora only managed to look sheepish they said their final farewells and Sora closed the door behind him.

Riku put his hands in his pockets and blew out his cheeks._ That went well_, he thought to himself. The afternoon was rather interesting. They laughed a lot, sometimes so much that Riku's stomach cramped with the after affects. In the middle of their meal, it was decided that arm wrestling was brought up. As both the boys were quite competitive, the dishes were cleared and the boys had an intense match. Even though Riku won the bout, Sora continued his meal with renewed vigour, his philosophy being the more he ate, the stronger he would become.

It was a good day in the end.

The afternoon could only described as pleasant. The sun was finally out, offering a certain, but comfortable, heat. Fluffy, white clouds cavorted in the forget-me-not blue sky and a slight breeze stirred the grass gently. One could see two figures meandering side by side in a colourful meadow, over looking Radiant Garden; it was impossible to tell if they were holding hands or not. Silvery laughter punctuated the otherwise still afternoon.

Roxas smiled pleasantly as he watched Namine laugh gaily. When the rest of the group left Thirteen the day before, Roxas eventually summed the courage to ask Namine for coffee, despite the looming pile of work that was waiting for him at home.

So far, the day was going incredibly well. Namine was laughing freely, constantly touching Roxas' arm when she talked, looking at him constantly; all the normal, but perfect signs of interest. Now all Roxas had to do was seal the deal.

"Namine," Roxas said, stopping. "Can I ask you something?"

Namine turned to Roxas, mirth still touching her lips and her sky-blue eyes. "Of course," She answered.

Roxas took a deep breath. "Do you want to go out with me."

Namine took Roxas' hands in hers. "Of course I will," she replied, another smile growing on her lips. Roxas couldn't help but grin in response.

* * *

**So if you didn't expect that coming, then I have to go back and make that a little more obvious. Something about damn skippy (if I haven't told you), I kind of want to make it a running thing throughout the story so that each of the characters in the group use it so it's like a unity thing. Tell me if you hate it :P.**

**And Riku's mother has died (if I haven't put that in already!). So that's why he got all emotional and thinky.**

**Please review once you've read, gives me some reason to write these stories up :).**

**Signing off:**

**Caneater xx**


	8. All That Jazz

**OMYGOSH I'M SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY!**

**I'm in university at the moment, and they use IMacs, and I have a normal Windows PC (All the big cities are obsessed with Apple. I'm not complaining, but I'm just not used to it. I'm a small town girl :P.) Anyway, studing music in Cape Town (oh my waord, it's a fabulous place). Being taught by a professional concert pianist and there's A LOT of competition. It's so super scary!**

**So, here's the new chapter...Hm, will see you AT THE BOTTOM of the story...enjoy!**

**Rated M for violence, swearing, and some steamy moments (mostly implied). *evil laugh of doom* There will be much to learn...hehehehehehehe**

**

* * *

**

When Sora walked into school the next day, it suddenly seemed that everyone knew his name. He was greeted and high-fived by people that once would not look at him twice when he passed them by.

He found Tifa at the lockers, surrounded by a small crowd of, what looked like, devoted followers. Sora was greeted with a cheer by the students, and was allowed to get through to Tifa.

"What's going on?" Sora asked Tifa through a smile, his eyes shifting nervously.

"We're popular, Sora," she replied simply. "Since we won the match on Friday, we've become the new 'it' crowd, the people everyone wants to be and be with. And you," she said, clasping his shoulder, "are the hero. Have you checked your locker yet?"

"N-no," Sora stammered, unnerved by all the attention. Tifa only smiled in reply. Sora gave her a suspicious look, then asked, "So what's happening with the team?"

"I've got thirty people asking to try out for the new positions. I wanna have a look at them, but I still wanna try and get Riku on the team."

"Even though he said all that about water polo on Saturday?"

"He's got talent. Not as good as Roxas, but he could be the next best. Of course there won't be anyone near your amount of skill to replace you."

Sora grinned in reply, the thought of having Riku and Kairi on the same team made him feel elated. He left for his locker, and noticed an incredible amount of giggling was following him wherever he went. Sora turned and saw a group of girls at a considerable distance glancing at him behind textbooks and bags. He smiled and waved uncertainly. The girls' giggling increased and some even blushed. He continued to his destination, with an ever bigger grin adorning his face.

There he found a very grumpy Roxas.

"Hey, what's with all these people?" Roxas asked his cousin.

"We're popular, Rox!"

Roxas looked at Sora in disbelief. "So you're telling me and _this _won't go away?" Roxas asked in a strangled whisper as he gestured behind him. A group of juniors were idling nearby the cousins' lockers, glancing noticeably at Roxas. They were soon joined by Sora's giggling group of girls, and there was a bit of an argument of who got prime place. Sora smiled and shrugged, finally turning to his locker. He almost jumped in surprise. Huge arrangements and flowers were adorning the floor around it, and letters were poking through the air vents of the door.

"What?" Sora was awed. As he opened his locker, an avalanche of letters and cards besieged him.

"Hey Sora!" Sora's head snapped up as he read a letter from a girl called Odette, who was confessing her undying love for him. Riku stood over him in his usual fashion with a bemused smile. "This is worse than when I won the Championship last year," he commented.

"I think the concussion was part of the reason," Sora said, as he sheepishly held up a handful of "Get Well Soon" cards.

"True. Anyway, Sora, I wanted to chat to you about -" He then focused on something beyond Sora and his face blanched. "I'll chat to you later!" He then promptly disappeared, leaving Roxas and Sora completely clueless as to why. Then Kairi appeared before them.

"Where the hell is he?" Kairi seethed, her hands balled into fists.

"Who?" Sora asked, buying his time to stuff as many letters in his bag as possible.

"That bastard, Riku!" Kairi's face was a thundercloud.

Sora stopped. "Did I...miss something?"

"Nothing you probably haven't noticed." She narrowed her eyes where Riku once was and then turned her attention to Sora. "What's with all the letters?"

Now Sora was caught in the act and he felt like an idiot. "I – uh – I just found them! I don't even know who most of these people are!"

"Yeah, I got the same stuff in my locker," Kairi said, "but I only got ten or something. Anyway, can I talk to you later?"

"Uuuuh, sure," Sora replied, utterly confused about the state of events.

"Great. See you later." With that, Kairi stormed off.

Sora looked at his cousin. "_Please _tell me what happened?"

"Riku broke up with Kairi after we saw you on Saturday." Sora was taken aback. "Apparently it was because he lost on Friday night."

Sora frowned. He never mentioned any of this during yesterday's brunch. "That doesn't sound like him," Sora murmured.

"You don't know jack about the guy, Sor! He seems like the most arrogant guy on the team!" Roxas retorted. Sora bit his lip. "Look, I'm sorry okay?" Roxas said hastily, not meaning to hurt his cousin's feelings. "I'm a bit on edge with all this attention stuff."

"Yeah, me too," Sora admitted, slumping against his locker. He then smiled at Roxas. "We'll make it through together!"

* * *

Roxas slumped against the door of the practice room. Finally, some peace and quiet. He was constantly followed and questioned by everyone, and all he needed was privacy. It was one of the main reasons why he didn't want to play water polo, but now popularity stalked him, and the only way to do it was to shut every one else out. Even if it was an hour or two.

In his right hand, Roxas carried the bulky case that held the rented saxophone from the university. He put it on the piano stool and opened it gently. It wasn't as clean and shiny as the one he played in Twilight Town, but with a polishing cloth and a bit of time, that would change. He put the pieces together and wet the reed in between his lips. He put the black strap over his shoulder and placed his fingertips on the familiar fingering.

He started with a G, low and soothing. The tone needed work, Roxas couldn't deny that, but time would easily fix that. He slowly played down to as low as he was taught and then back up to G. From there, he ascended, hitting the octave key as he went higher and higher.

Satisfied, he dug out his sheet music from the case and looked through his collection. He was interrupted by a shy knock on the door. Roxas didn't reply, in case it was a follower.

"Roxas?" The blonde kept silent. "It's Axel. Let me in, I want to talk." No reply. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Roxas eventually said. The door opened creakily and Axel had to stoop slightly to get inside.

"Hey," Axel greeted uncertainly as he closed the door behind him. He sat on the piano stool. "I just wanted to say sorry about the other day. Bessie...I've had a bad history with her."

"Your double bass?"

"Yeah. When I left the water polo team -"

"Hang on," Roxas interjected. "I thought no one left the water polo team. If you're gonna tell me the story, you're gonna tell it from the beginning."

Axel sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay, you asked for it." Roxas sat next to Axel, carefully placing the saxophone in between his legs. "Alright, I'm Axel, twenty years old and I'm an orphan." Roxas' throat seized up with emotion, but he dared not to make a sound. "My parents died in a car crash. The headmaster took pity on me and said I could postpone my final exams for as long as I needed to. I haven't taken them yet. Obviously." He swallowed. The red head was looking at his hands, but Roxas could see that Axel was holding back emotion.

"Anyway, I joined the water polo team for a while after that. That was when Riku just started. I found out Riku had an amazing voice and suggested we should jam together with Bessie. The water polo guys found us belting it out in the auditorium." His lip did an involuntary sneer as he passed over the memory in his mind. "They completely fucked out, and they almost took Bessie. Wanted to paint her or something. That's when I went ape. Was called in, almost expelled and the head had to fight for my life basically. I was advised not to play her when people are around 'cos of what happened. But I was asked to leave the water polo team. We jam anyway when no one's there, or when people are too drunk to remember." Axel finally looked up, his eyes bright. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. You caught me at a raw moment."

Roxas wasn't sure of what to do. It took a while to lubricate his throat in order to get it working. "Why did you tell me this?"

"Hell, I don't know." Axel even laughed a little at that. "I guess I always felt I could trust you, you know? I think you're someone that wouldn't judge me for what I did, or who I am."

Roxas smiled, his chest constricting. He hardly knew Axel, but the red head knew enough to trust with something so deep and painful; it touched Roxas in a way he could never express. "You can talk to me any time, bud,'" Roxas said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Axel smiled appreciatively. "So you play the sax, huh?" Roxas nodded in reply. "Never would've guessed. Wanna jam sometime?"

* * *

Riku struggled to find a seat in the cafeteria. He'd never struggled with this dilemma: he'd been Mr. Popular since day one. But since the match on Friday Night, the hockey team got all the attention and fawning eyes.

Sighing inwardly, Riku took his tray and made his way outside, sitting alone under a small tree. A nice quiet and shady spot, perfect for the sunny afternoon. But Riku would give anything to be inside, being admired by every one. He once could have any girl he set his eyes on. He usually went for girls with low self esteem, low morals, and ready to throw themselves at him at any given time or day. Now it wasn't possible. All he got were dirty looks from all the girls. If Kairi hated him, then everyone hated him. That's what the rules were these days.

Riku suddenly missed the feeling of being hero-worshipped by team mates and made girls swoon just by walking past them in the corridors. He wanted it all back. But first he needed to get his self esteem back on track...some how. And girls weren't the solution this time.

* * *

The Heroes' popularity was still buzzing by the end of the week. Sora continued to receive flowers and love letters in his locker, now on an hourly basis. Roxas saw that Sora was struggling with the load, especially when it came to filtering out the letters to try and find his work. The blonde pulled a small boy from the group that followed him religiously between classes, gave him the code to Sora's locker and ordered him to clean out the locker before the bell ring in between lessons and lunch, adding that he would strangle him with his own intestines if he did anything other than that. From then on, Sora's smile was wider, yet suspicious when he discovered his locker clean each time he reached into it.

Kairi still got a stream of love letters in her locker, to her mild satisfaction. There's nothing better than having a few secret admirers when the hottest boy in the school dumped you last weekend. She walked down the corridor, her smile faint but almost permanently etched on her face. She passed Kronk and Kuzco who were hovering close to Kairi's locker.

"Did you see that?" Kronk whispered to Kuzco excitedly. "She's got all my letters, _all seven of them_."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kuzco said absent mindedly as he admired himself in the mirror in the door of his locker.

"Do you know what this _means_?" Kronk's smile grew wider. "She was holding them, so she _obviously_ read them, which means that she knows that she's getting them because she's not throwing them away. And then she'll never know it's me, because it's anonymous so when I do one day tell her in the near future that I'm the only one for her and we're extremely compatible and have the best DNA to make super awesome squirrel babies, then she'll jump into my arms and we'll live in my small house where I'll cook for her every day and -"

"Okay, I'm done," Kuzco said officially, slamming his locker door closed. He looked at Kronk with a raised eyebrow and immediately Kronk picked the heavy textbooks from the floor. "Good boy. You can't expect me to carry all that with my delicate hands. I just got a manicure. Now lets score some chicks."

Tifa held trials on Wednesday and Thursday, as there were so many people signed up. One of which was Kuzco. "What are you doing, Kuzco?" Kronk whispered from the side of his mouth as the narcissist did delicate stretches and Kronk was standing over attentively holding Kuzco's personalised towel, water bottle and hockey stick. "You have no idea how to play hockey."

"So? It's a free country isn't it?" Kuzco replied flippantly. "Besides, there's a hottie hot ass I've been eyeing from the beginning of the week. Before, she wasn't so cute, but now I would do anything to squeeze those -"

"Players get ready," Tifa called to them. "You've got five minutes."

"Ah, there she is," Kuzco said, with a devilish smile. He eyed Kairi as she walked out the locker room in a tight JT and shorts, swinging her hockey stick lazily, her loose hair blowing gently in the breeze.

"Oh, yoo hoo! Kairi!" Kuzco called out, waving his hand.

"Kairi?" Kronk exclaimed, alarmed. He saw that Kairi was looking in their direction. "Oh, this is bad." His instincts immediately took over: he picked Kuzco up and threw him over his shoulder and sprinted to the nearest tree, where he promptly took off his shirt and tied Kuzco's hands on the nearest branch. There, he spotted a squirrel, and instructed it to watch Kuzco and made no escape. The squirrel squeaked that he would and looked at Kuzco so viciously that he recoiled.

"Kronk? Let me go! This squirrel's gonna eat me alive!"

But Kronk ignored him as he ran back to the Astro. "Hey Tifa," Kronk said, not at all breathless from the exercise. "Just to let you know that Kuzco's not going to be trying out today. He's got, er, brain sickness."

The hockey captain glanced at Kuzco screaming blue murder from the nearby tree. "I see." Tifa eyed Kronk's well-built torso. "You work out, Kronk?"

"Not at all," Kronk said, taken aback.

"Oh, and Demyx says that there's practice tomorrow after school. We've got a gig soon and there's gonna be a huge turn out."

"Great," Kronk said with a smile. He looked distantly at Kairi, who was talking quietly to Sora.

Tifa felt frustrated and rather tired when she got back home that afternoon. She dumped her bag on the couch, and stumbled to kitchen, desperate for a glass of cold water. She could faintly hear Cid working meticulously in his workshop. He should be finished in an hour or two. She should start dinner soon.

She poured herself a glass and chugged the water down, happily feeling the cold water slide down inside her. Satisfied, she turned and almost jumped out of her skin. Sitting at the island was Cloud.

"Geez, Cloud! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Cloud stayed silent. "What are you doing here?"

"It's Thursday. Did you forget?" He lifted a heavy bag full of baking goodies. Tifa smiled and got out the aprons.

* * *

Roxas felt the same about the attention that he did the first day: annoyed and frustrated. He hated how a small fan club had followed him everywhere, offering to be his towel boy has he did his painful exercises in the gym, to carry his books and sax case. All of which he not so politely told them to piss off and go fuck themselves.

Needing a break from the whispers and swoons, he stuck his hand up in the middle of French Honours to claim he was feeling under the weather and needed to see the nurse. He felt free walking down the quiet corridors. No one talking about him, asking him about the match, his injury, his relationship with Namine (which was none of their damn business anyway). He was sick of it all.

As he turned into yet another corridor, he realised it wasn't as deserted as he thought it was. And Roxas saw he was stepping into a very steamy scene that he probably supposed to see at all. He really had to stop walking into these kind of moments. But there they were, pushed up against the wall, breathing deeply, bodies pressed together tightly, their mouths trying to get dominance. Roxas was used to these scenes. Water polo players used to put on public displays against the lockers on a daily basis. But this...this was different.

Riku pulled away from Axel, his lips cherry red, his cheeks flushed and breathless. He spotted Roxas and he paled slightly. He picked his satchel from where it had been hurriedly discarded moments before. As he walked past Roxas he said, "Axel can really kiss you know." Roxas smiled wryly as he remembered that day in the cafeteria when Kairi challenged Axel on his kissing ability.

Axel was standing there, his hand tangled in his mane of red hair. "I can never hide anything from you, can I?" he asked Roxas with a faint smile.

Roxas only chuckled. "What was that about? It looked like much more than just a rain check to me."

Axel winced slightly. "Riku and I have been good friends since he first came to Radiant High. He's trusted me with anything, and stayed by my side even when I was going through the rough patch after the...the thing, and the dark days after my parents passed away. He needed a favour: he's kinda confused about where he is now, and he hates not being popular and all. I just helped him out."

He hauled himself onto a nearby desk and took out his cellphone. "Maybe I should call Demyx and take Riku to a place that might cheer him up for a bit. Hey, do you wanna come?"

"What are we doing, exactly?" Roxas asked, sitting himself next to Axel.

"Just a party I heard about that sounds like a blast. You can crash at Zexion's flat if you need to."

Roxas thought about it for a bit. He promised to have early breakfast with Namine and then go shopping afterwards. Roxas wasn't too keen on the last bit, but being with Namine made all the problems go away. He figured that it wouldn't be too bad and he would make it on time if he was responsible.

"Sure."

* * *

"You sure this is the right place?" Roxas asked as he got out Zexion's car. The place was an old multi-storey building, empty and quiet.

"Oh, he's sure," Axel said with an excited grin. Out of the car came Riku, Zexion and Demyx. Axel led the quintet up to the fire escape staircase, their shoes clunking heavily on the steel. Roxas could steadily hear music from afar. Before he knew it, he was on the roof and a raging party was overlooking the city, the DJ's pumping the music, lasers pointing up into the inky sky, the crowd pulsing with the beat and the alcohol flowing freely. Riku smiled, Roxas blew out his cheeks, Axel grinned and Demyx and Zexion went to find drinks. This was going to be one hell of a party.

It was way too late, way too dark, and there was way too much alcohol. But Roxas found himself enjoying himself, letting loose on the dance floor as the beat carried him away. Before he knew it, hands attached to his hips and drew him close to tall someone. Roxas didn't have to look up to know it was Axel: no one would wear that many bangles and get away with it.

With the alcohol pulsating through his system, Roxas didn't object to being drawn closer and closer until he was right up against Axel, their bodies soon moving in perfect rhythm with each other. Roxas felt flames flare through him, his head spinning and he felt himself growing warmer with each passing moment. He could feel Axel's lips on his neck, his red mane brushing his cheeks. Axel travelled up from Roxas' neck to his cheek, and then he was right in front of him. One look in Axel's eyes and Roxas was hooked. He pulled in and kissed Axel with reckless abandon, Axel returning as furiously, their bodies gyrating together to the rhythm.

When they pulled apart, they saw Demyx and Zexion grinning like idiots: they were holding two shots of tequila. Axel immediately took one and swung it back. It didn't take Roxas much to take the other one.

* * *

Roxas woke with a start. His head was clear, but he struggled to get adjust himself to his surroundings. It took him a few blurry seconds to realise this _wasn't _ his room, thus it definitely wasn't his bed. He also wasn't alone in this bed that wasn't his. Roxas swallowed nervously, scared of what he might find. He slowly turned his head to glimpse a flash of red. Roxas closed his eyes and thought to himself, _It's just a dream, it's just a dream._

When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Axel was still there, their bodies pressed together to fit into a three-quarter bed. Roxas took a deep breath. _Now what? _He cautiously lifted the covers. As far as he could tell, they were both stripped to their boxers. Roxas didn't know whether he should sigh in relief or worry even more.

That was until he saw the half-opened bottle of lube on the bedside table.

"Oh shit," Roxas said, panic rearing through him. At this, Axel stirred and immediately groaned.

"Oh, my fucking head," he muttered, clutching at it like his life depended on it.

"Shit, Axel. Shit shit shit!" Roxas nudged himself away from Axel as far as possible.

"Don't talk so loud," Axel said, trying to sit up. "What's the problem." Roxas pointed to the bottle of lube on the bedside table. Axel froze. "Oh shit."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

Axel lifted the covers. "At least we're not naked. But check this out."

"Do I want to know?" Roxas asked, his arms crossed.

"Maybe," Axel muttered. "It just means that I got some kind of action last night. But my brain won't stop complaining about the amount of alcohol I gave my body last night." He groaned softly.

"Oh what a beautiful moooorrrrrning!" Demyx sang on the top of his lungs as he came down the corridor. He popped his head in the door, looking cheerful as usual. "You're looking fantastic this morning!" he chirped and grinned. Roxas and Axel lazily flipped him the bird. Demyx chuckled. "Oh hey, now that I see it, thanks for the lube. Really had to use it. Mine ran out a few days back."

"Knew it was you two," Axel said. "You guys are like fucking rabbits. Now leave us alone for people that have hangovers."

"That just makes one of us," Roxas said with a smirk.

"Fuck you," Axel groaned, slipping back into bed.

"You almost did," Roxas pointed out.

Axel chuckled darkly, pulling the covers over his head. "Oh no you don't," Roxas said. He pushed Axel out of the bed and followed him out. "You're going for a shower. Cures your hangover these days." He frogmarched a grumbling Axel to the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Roxas sighed and dragged his hand through his spikes, without remembering they still had gel in them from the night before, leaving his hand sticky and mucky. Roxas pulled a face and made him way downstairs.

There he found Demyx, with a frilly pink apron, puttering around the stove and humming to himself. Roxas rinsed his hand in the sink.

Demyx glanced over his shoulder and smirked. "Axel's that hot, huh?"

"What?" Roxas looked nonplussed, until he realised he was in nothing but boxers, his face slightly flushed and he was washing his sticky hands off. "Oh, no no no!" Roxas protested! "It's nothing like that! Geez, it's just gel..."

"Yeah, I get it," Demyx winked. "Thought you two would hit it off after last night."

Roxas dried his hands and sat on the counter. He sighed heavily and rubbed his head. "If memory serves right, we kissed."

"Mmmhm," Demyx affirmed as he pushed the scrambled eggs about in the pan.

"I'm so fucked. What do I tell Namine?" Roxas then remembered with a start. "What's the time? I totally forgot that I had to meet her this morning! Shit!"

* * *

Monday morning was greeted with posters on various lockers and walls, all purple and green and extremely eye-catching. Curious, Roxas and Sora investigated.

"Who is 'Nobody Knows?'" Sora asked, scratching his head.

"You're kidding me," Demyx overheard and stopped by, his blue headphones around his neck. "That's our band. You haven't heard of us?"

"You have a band?" Sora gasped excitedly.

"Yeah. Axel, Cloud, Kronk and me. Tifa's our guardian angel and co-ordinator. She plays with us too sometimes. We're playing on Friday in the auditorium. I will cry if you're not there!"

"We're not gonna miss it!" Sora promised and Demyx beamed in response.

"I wonder what they play," Roxas murmured. If Axel wasn't allowed to play his double bass in public, he wasn't sure what else he would play. Of course, the thought of Axel made him feel guilty and he started to think about Namine. Instead this made his feelings more in turmoil: he'd cheated on her and there was no excuse. He saw how pretty pissed off she was when he called and said he was running late on Saturday. Towards the end of the day though, things improved, even when Roxas' finances had a dent in them to make it up to Namine. He wanted to do right by her, and thinking more about Axel wasn't helping at all, especially when neither of them knew what happened that night.

"Hey Demyx!" Roxas shouted after the blonde musician. Demyx turned around. "Can I talk to ya later. It's about the other night."

"Yeah sure," Demyx said with an understanding nod. "Grab some ice cream too while we at it?"

"I'm a little broke, sorry man," Roxas replied sheepishly.

"It's fine, I'll stick you to it."

"But, this is the second time -"

"Yeah, I know, but every time I do it, I don't regret it really, so maybe it's good thing. Anyway, I have to get to class. Check you later!"

Tifa blew out her cheeks as she waited for her hockey team to assemble on the small stands in front of her on the Astro. Her two good players were missing, and digging for more players was incredibly difficult, especially since half the people who tried out didn't know the first thing about hockey. She finally found a few good ones though, and she only hoped that her gut feeling worked.

"Alright team," Tifa said confidently. "That was a great match on Friday. Good job, but we haven't peaked yet. We still have the whole season to get through, so don't let this new popular scene get to your heads. Unfortunately, we lost two of our forwards, Roxas and Sora." The cousins were sitting apart from the team in their civvies, looking slightly woebegone. "But after trials, we got some players and they should fit in well until Sora and Roxas heal up. Heroes, I want you to meet your new team mates."

From the locker rooms came Peter – a small but incredibly fast runner, known famously for holding the current record for the 100 and 200 meters in his first year – and to Roxas' surprise, and Kairi's fury, Riku. The Heroes clapped to welcome the new team, approving Tifa's new choice. The captain was relieved, but watched Kairi closely. As she sent the team to warm up, Kairi stormed up to Tifa, as the captain expected.

"How could you let _him_ onto the team?" Kairi burst out angrily.

"You saw how he played that night. That's really impressive from a non-hockey player."

"But he's from the water polo team!" Kairi protested.

"So was Roxas," Tifa pointed out evenly. "Look, if you have a problem with this, then I suggest you hit the showers and head on out of here." Kairi bit her lip. "Keep your issues off the Astro. I'm sure you can deal with them off the team." Kairi understood and went back to warm up. Tifa hated to reprimand her team mate and friend like this, but it was one thing that Tifa learned about leadership, it was about being fair and objective.

* * *

"So what's the issue?" Demyx asked as the walked. They found a shady park, full of people walking their dogs and children playing on the swings. It was calming for Roxas, who was dealing with so many emotions for the past few days. He wasn't used to all of it.

Roxas took a deep breath. "So, whether I like it or not, I've cheated on Namine and that's not right."

"Why?"

"It's...against my morals. We're exclusive. And I can't stop thinking about Axel! It's infuriating and I hate it that I when I've finally settled in and started a relationship, _this _happens and now I'm fucked."

"You just need to sort stuff out. Like, who do you want to be with, who don't you think won't work out between you guys." They sat down on a bench under a giant tree. "You're talking to the right person, fortunately." Roxas shot him a quizzical look. "Axel and I dated when I first came here." Roxas' jaw dropped. "Guess I should have told you that earlier," Demyx added with a sheepish grin.

"No, no. It's really none of my business in the first place," Roxas reassured him. "Was he your first?"

Demyx shook his head. "I was bisexual since primary school. I leaned more towards guys that I did to girls, but I dated a girl called Ariel for a few years before I came here. I'll tell you a secret though," Demyx added with a grin. "I was Axel's first."

"How old was he?"

"About sixteen, seventeen." Demyx shrugged. "What was Namine's reaction on Saturday?"

"She was pretty pissed." Demyx laughed at that. "She's like her sister like that. Doesn't take her too much to make her angry, but she's got better tolerance than her sister. A little retail therapy helps a lot though." Roxas smiled slightly.

"You really like her, don't you?" Demyx said, with a soft smile on his face.

Roxas nodded, still looking very worried. "I should do right by her. But if things continue like this with Axel...I don't know."

"Well, think about what I said. And let me know what you came up with. I don't know if this will help you, but I can tell that Axel was into you since day one."

* * *

All the school talked about was the Nobody Knows gig on Friday morning. There were posters everywhere, podcasts, music played over the intercom, even a little demo by Demyx playing solo guitar on the tables of the Dining Hall on Thursday afternoon. Every one was talking about it. Roxas felt rather excited about going, but it was mainly caused by the general hype. He also wanted to support his friends and he was interested as to how the band worked. Roxas wasn't sure if Cloud sang the way he did when Tifa was playing with him, but then again, it was yet another raw moment that Roxas walked in to. Nevertheless, he was interested.

Roxas was trying to avoid being alone with Axel, in case he would fall in to temptation again, and spending more and more time with Namine. He felt comfortable around her. He realised that he didn't feel so passionate around her than he did with Axel, but Roxas wasn't sure if that was the alcohol talking, or if it was something that was buried in both their consciousness. Roxas didn't know if he want to find out.

Riku had been back to being popular again, and he felt good about it. He was careful not to be around Kairi at all, because he knew that there would be issues that would follow soon afterwards. Riku loved playing hockey, especially the tactics that Tifa used and the spirit the Heroes had. Peter was fast, and was their main striker, although he didn't have the skill of Sora. Of course Sora's encouragement and spirit carried the team through their practices, shouting from the side lines and offering advice from time to time, still part of the team.

Friday dawned with excitement crackling in the air. None of the students could concentrate during the lessons, much to the teachers' chagrin. Leonhart continued his lesson as normal. Tifa concentrated as much as she could, the awkwardness with her history teacher becoming less and less and her relationship with Cloud steadily building up again. Cloud, his thoughts on the up coming gig completely wiped from his mind as he watched how Tifa and Leonhart acted around each other. Something was definitely up. He cornered Axel before lunch.

"What do you know about Leonhart and Tifa?" he asked Axel.

"Cloud, I -"

"I _know_ something happened between them. Tell me, Axel." Axel saw the determined glint in the front man's unnaturally bright eyes. He swallowed, worried that if he did tell him, then everything would fall apart again. "I've already figured out that Tifa went out with him that day, it wasn't difficult to piece together." Cloud continued. "I just want to know what's going on."

Axel took a deep breath and started to tell him.

During lunch break, the amps were wheeled from a large van to the auditorium, followed by mikes and other various equipment. The band was excused from lessons in order to set up. Roxas was growing anxious as he heard the commotion from inside the auditorium as he took his sax down to practice for the weekend. His curiosity that was shared with his cousin was insatiable and the evening couldn't come faster.

Eventually the sun set and the school grounds descended into darkness. The lights were switched on and the auditorium was slowly filling up. The vibe was amazing, with students talking loudly and excitedly, a non-alcoholic bar was open on one end. Roxas had never experienced anything like this. He found Sora and Kairi right in front of the stage, Namine on Roxas' arm. The lights went dark, and the excitement reached a fever pitch as they waited with baited breath for the stage to light up.

Then they were there. Cloud in front of the lead mike, with leather boots, tight jeans and a black t-shirt, his hair spiked up and his skin bronzed in the spot lights. On either side of him stood Axel and Demyx. The blonde had his aquamarine guitar that the students saw the day before. He stood as close to the amp as he could, his head bent as he tuned his instrument. Axel was in his usual tight attire, his bangles forever present, his tattoos more pronounced in the light. He stood with his hips slightly forward as to be comfortable with his electric bass guitar. He held it as if it was part of him since birth. At the back, Kronk was adjusting the cymbals, looking slightly too big for the drum set, his headphones resting on his black shoulder-length locks.

"A one, a two, a one, two, three, four," Kronk counted in. The auditorium was met with such an amazing and full sound that the crowd was screaming in approval before the intro was completely played out. Cloud coolly stepped up to the mike and sang:

"_Woooooaaaaah,_

_It's too late, the time has come._

_I've kept this inside me way too long._

_Silence will leave me cold,_

_Lost on a highway that never takes me home._

_I wanna step outside, I wanna give it up before I lose it all,_

_It's tearing me inside the way you break me down._

_And there will come a time when I will come undone and you will let me fall_

_I'll leave it all behind before you let me down."_

Roxas noticed that Cloud didn't sing with such raw intensity, but his voice was husky and passionate nonetheless and it drove the crowd wild. Despite him being such a silent person most of the time, he had such stage presence: no one could look away. He was also strangely attractive and alluring as he surveyed the crowd through half-lidded eyes, his voice covering them completely and getting the crowd's full attention.

"_And I realise forgiveness is calling, yeah it's calling._

_And I deny the reason, I'm falling, yeah I'm falling,_

_So let go!"_

It was then when Demyx launched into an almighty solo that stole the breath of the audience, his body bent over his instrument, completely into the music. Axel was watching his ex closely, following along with ease, his spidery fingers easily finding purchase on the strings. The whole show was utterly transfixing, Roxas couldn't believe how well they played together. It seemed that Kronk knew exactly what to play, predicting the solo like it was written out in front of him. It was as if a totally new section of the song just snuck in and wowed the audience. Cloud watched on, his body moving almost snakelike to the drum and bass line.

"Wow, Cloud!" Sora exclaimed as the band went off stage after two encores. The group of friends huddled around the group, exchanging high fives, pumped with adrenaline and slightly deaf from the loud speakers.

"Amazing show man," Riku said, grinning and shaking Cloud's hand. Cloud's attention was not on his friends, however. His steady focussed on the silhouette standing in the doorway of the auditorium. He mumbled apologies as he pushed through the group, ignoring the praise around him. He approached Leonhart with a determined stride. They sized each other up, feet apart, chin's up.

"Stay away from Tifa," Cloud warned through his gritted teeth.

"My private life has nothing to you," Leonhart replied, his face unchanging.

"Tifa is my best friend," Cloud replied evenly. "It has everything to do to me."

"You didn't do anything to stop me," Leonhart said matter of factly, crossing his arms.

Cloud's ground his teeth, trying to keep his cool. Axel was standing behind him like a sentinel. He touched Cloud's arm in order to bring him down to earth. Cloud jumped at his touch and drew his arm violently back, unfortunately knocking Leonhart's chin with his elbow. The three young men stared at each other in amazement. Then a rather smug look came over Leonhart's face.

"See you Monday morning, Cloud," and promptly left.

"Shit," Cloud swore.

"I'm sorry man," Axel hastily apologised. "If I hadn't -"

"Not your fault," Cloud said shortly and disappeared. Axel chose not to follow him. The man needed space after all.

* * *

Cloud returned home early Monday morning, to his mother's surprise.

"Honey, aren't you feeling well?" his mother asked worriedly from washing dishes.

Cloud stood in the doorway of the kitchen with his hands in his pockets, looking rather sour. "I got suspended for assaulting a teacher."

Cloud's mother stopped her activity to look at her son. "What?"

"It was an accident," Cloud said without much emotion. "I was startled and I knocked the guy by mistake. It wasn't my fault."

"I'll sort it out, Cloud," she replied in a business-like tone, wiping her hands on her orange apron. "Why don't you make us some coffee while I phone the school?"

* * *

**Hm, as I was sorting out the page breaks it was a little more fragmented than I thought it was...maybe that's just me skimming it.**

**Anyway, a lot happened :P. The thing with Axel and Roxas hooking up was in my head for quite a while. You'll have to wait and see what the verdict is :P. Then, there's Kronk. I needed a drummer in the band, and also a little bit of comic relief (even though there is a lot), and someone who cares/stalks Kairi. So, Kronk. Kuzco obviously had to tag a long to fill everything out. Hm, and the Band in general: I was inspired a while ago by Alterbridge. I love their stuff. They're so musical and they've got soul :P. I imagine Cloud singing an octave lower than the lead singer, I think. I just can't imagine Cloud going all that high. If you can, that's perfect, cos the song that I had in mind is...wow. **

**Anywho, hope you enjoyed it, and please please review. It pleases me so!**

**Caneater xoxoxox (hugs and bunny rabbits)  
**


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